Do spring training team records matter?

For the most part, no. Baseball managers aren't concerned about whether they win or lose a spring training game. They are concerned about getting their players ready, and deciding who their regulars will be.

However, when it comes down to it, it turns out that, in general, the best teams usually do well in spring training. We looked at the last twelve years of playoff teams. That's eight teams per year for a total of 96 teams. The question we wanted to answer is, "How many playoff teams, the best teams in baseball, had a good spring training record that season?" The answer: 66 out of those 96 teams had spring training records that were .500 or better. That's 69%.

Yes, 30 teams were below .500 in spring training and still made the playoffs. That's a good number of teams. You can do poorly in spring training and still make the playoffs. But more than double that, 66 playoff teams, had a .500 record or better in spring training.