Do Spring records matter?

ARIZONA & FLORIDA - The 2013 Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues are in full swing in Arizona and Florida. How predictable are spring won-loss records to regular season records?

Most of the teams that made it to the post-season in 2012 had decent springs a year ago (see below). The ultimate World Series champ San Francisco Giants had the 3rd best record in the Arizona Cactus League. The exceptions were the Rangers, Nationals and Braves, who had decidedly subpar springs.

The team with the best record in the Cactus League in 2012, the Oakland A's, made it to the playoffs. However, the team with the best record in the Grapefruit League, and in fact all of baseball last spring, the Toronto BlueJays, saw no post-season action.

Here are the teams that made the playoffs last year, and how they did in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues:

American League
AL East: New York Yankees.............(4th place Grapefruit 18-12)
AL Central: Detroit Tigers.................(2nd place Grapefruit 20-8)
AL West: Oakland A's.......................(1st place Cactus 15-7)
AL Wildcard: Baltimore Orioles........(8th place Grapefruit 11-13)
AL Wildcard: Texas Rangers.............(14th place Cactus 12-17)

National League
NL East: Washington Nationals..........(13th place Grapefruit 12-17)
NL Central: Cincinnati Reds................(7th place Cactus 17-17)
NL West: San Francisco Giants..........(3rd place Cactus 18-15)
NL Wildcard: St. Louis Cardinals........(3rd place Grapefruit 16-9)
NL Wildcard: Atlanta Braves...............(14th place Grapefruit 10-18)

Contributing sources: 
2012 Spring training records 
2012 Regular season stats 
Pennant Races

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