A (brief) Historical Look at Spring Training Baseball

The question, "Does Spring Training even matter?" is what lots of baseball fans around this time of year often ask when evaluating the early, pre-season performances of their favorite team. For us Angel fans, we all certainly hope not, judging from our 2-9-2 start in 2010.

In hopes of keeping up with Halowood, I thought I would do a little research into the last 8 years of pre-season baseball to see if a teams W - L record in the Cactus or Grapefruit League, often translates into the regular season.

The answer? Not, really. But here are some, mildly interesting facts...

* The last time the Angels had had a losing season was also the last time they had a losing PRE-season. (2003)

* Since 2002, four teams have made it to the World Series with losing pre-season records (2009 & 2008 Phillies, 2005 Chicago White Sox, 2003 Marlins) 3 out of 4 times these teams won it.

* When looking at teams since 2002 that have made it to the NLCS/ALCS, never have ALL of those final, four teams also been in the top four of their respective Spring Training league. The most since 2002 has been 2 teams. In 2004, both Boston and St. Louis finished in the top 4 of the Grapefruit. In 2005 the Angels toped the Cactus while St. Louis was 3rd in the Grapefruit. In 2009, Angels and the Skankees topped their respective spring-training leagues.

* Since 2002, twice has it occured that none of the top four teams in the Cactus and Grapefruit made it to the ALCS/NLCS that same season (2003 & 2006).

Here's a run down of the last 8 years of Spring Training baseball. Top four finishers of each league are listed.



2009
Cactus
LAA: 26-8
MIL: 22-10
TEX: 21-14
KC: 18-14

Grapefruit
NYY: 24-10
ATL: 21-12
STL: 19-12
MINN: 19-13

ALCS: NYY – LAA
NLCS: PHI – LAD
WS: NYY – PHI

2008
Cactus
OAK: 18 –8
LAA: 19-10
MIL: 18-11
TEX: 17-11

Grapefruit
TB: 18-8
NYM: 20-11
FLA: 17-10
STL: 17-10

ALCS:  TB - BOS
NLCS PHI – LAD
WS: TB – PHI

2007
Cactus
ARI: 20-12
TEX: 16-11
LAA: 16-11
OAK: 16-12

Grapefruit
DET: 21-10
HOU: 18-11
STL: 16-10
ATL: 18-12

ALCS: BOS-CLEV
NLCS: ARI - COL   
WS: BOS – COL

2006
Cactus
LAA: 20-11
SD: 18-10
KC: 17-10
COL: 17-12

Grapefruit
CINN: 22-11
FLA: 19-9
PHI: 19-11
CLEV: 20-12


ALCS: DET - OAK
NLCS: NYM - STL
WS: DET – STL

2005
Cactus
LAA: 21-11
SF-20-12
SD: 19-15
COL: 17-15

Grapefruit
TOR: 16-10
NYM: 17-11
STL: 17-11
BAL: 15-11

ALCS: CWS - LAA
NLCS: STL-HOU
WS: CWS-HOU

2004:
Cactus
SEA: 18-11
LAA: 19-13
MIL: 18-12
OAK: 19-14

Grapefruit
MINN: 20-12
MON: 18-11
BOS: 17-11   
STL: 17-12

ALCS: NYY - BOS
NLCS: STL - HOU
WS: BOS – STL

2003
Cactus
KC: 19-8
CHC:17-11
AZ: 17-11
CWS: 17-13
(LAA: 9-20)

Grapefruit
CLEV: 19-11
MON: 17-10
MINN: 19-13
ATL: 17-12

ALCS: NYY - BOS
NLCS: FLA- CHC
WS: NYY – FLA

2002:
Cactus
AZ: 23-12
COL: 17-13
TEX: 18-13
SD:  18-15

Grapefruit
BAL: 20-9
HOU: 19-9
STL:  17-10
ATL:  17-15

ALCS: LAA - MINN
NLCS: SF-STL
WS:  LAA-SF