Spring Training History

The Orioles have a spring training record of 3-1. Cool. Here are the Orioles spring training records for the last 13 years:

1998...17-10
1999...13-12
2000...13-16
2001...18-13
2002...20-9 (First place in Grapefruit League)
2003...14-14
2004...12-16
2005...15-11
2006...13-17
2007...16-13
2008...10-17
2009...13-12
2010...12-17

In the past 13 years the Orioles have recorded seven .500 or better records in the Grapefruit League. During the corresponding regular seasons? You know.

Here is a little more. Three of last year's playoff teams had losing records in spring training. The Indians "won" the Cactus League.

Here is another study from Business Insider using much a much larger set of data. If I am interpreting their results correctly, they show a small (6%) connection between spring and regular season records.

Winning these games is more fun than losing them, and there is something to be said for building a young team's confidence. Still, it doesn't look like there is much connection between a winning record in the spring and a winning record through the summer.