With the conclusion of the 2026 Major League Baseball Spring Training, the regular season is right around the corner, although it is unsure how a team’s practice performance will impact them across the 162-game season.
The Braves were crowned the winners of the Grapefruit League with a record of 21-7, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Dodgers won the Cactus League with a record of 20-9, followed by the San Francisco Giants.
While statistics show there may not necessarily be a correlation between Spring Training Game performance and regular season performance, over the past 14 years, winners of their respective Spring Training leagues have gone on to win around 84 games, yet only 17 of the 40, or 44.7% of teams, have made the playoffs.
In the 2025 season, the Dodgers won the World Series, finishing third in the Cactus League with a record of 14-9, while the Braves missed the playoffs, winning half their spring training games and finishing sixth with a record of 13-13. This season, both are looking to make it back to the playoffs.
Teams that don’t succeed in Spring Training are evenly less likely to succeed in the regular season, with the worst team expected to win about 73 games, leading to only seven of the forty teams in the last ten years to make a postseason appearance.
Spring Training games offer many benefits other than to potentially see how the season plays out.
Spring Training allows teams to develop players’ skills and to warm up for the season. Another benefit is to see how new prospects are doing. Some players in Spring Training games are new draft picks adjusting to the team or developing new skills. Additionally, it allows for older, more seasoned players to play and learn different positions.
However, Meaders is uncertain that the Braves’ Grapefruit League win will indicate a shot at the playoffs.
The Braves, in their 28 spring training games, made sure to use the games to see how their prospect depth could perform against Major League pitching, yet while the unexpected offensive output from the prospects helped them win their Spring Training league, predictive statistics show that it is unlikely a majority of the Braves players will come close to the numbers they had in the practice stint.
“I always was told that it’s not very good if you do good in the spring training, but our season hasn’t started off bad,” Meaders said. “I don’t think we’re gonna be bad this season, we’ll be good, per se.”
Catie Buchanan, a freshman environmental science major, is also a Braves fan.
Spring Training games also help fans. The short month of games allows fans to readjust for the regular season and helps them start preparing to keep up with a 162-game season.
“I watched a couple games for a bit, and then I would check the scores of pretty much every game,” Buchanan said.
Stephen Coulter, a freshman finance major, has also been keeping up with the games.
“I think it’s important for [the players] to have a month to warm up to the season,” Coulter said. “It’s a long run.”
Spring Training also allows players on a team’s injured list to get back into the baseball environment. With some teams allowing players to pitch during games, such as the Yankees with Gerrit Cole, or, as the Braves did, allowing catcher Sean Murphy and former ace pitcher Spencer Strider to participate in simulated games.
Simulated games allow injured players to adjust their mechanics in preparation for returning to the team a few months into the season, but can do more than just a generic bullpen session, with someone in the batter’s box or even a defense behind the pitcher.
As far as playoff chances, Coulter is unsure.
“I think once we get some of our pitchers back, we might be able to [make the playoffs], but it’s gonna be tough until we have our whole, healthy lineup,” Coulter said.
While the Braves were able to succeed during Spring Training without a majority of their top pitching staff, and start to expedite the return of Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider during the March season, due to predictive metrics, the Spring Training record still does not confirm a playoff appearance, especially with the Braves having so many players on the injured list.
“I think [Spring Training games] are definitely a good thing for them and maybe give them a good start to the season,” Buchanan said.
The spring games also forced all teams to re-strategize for the upcoming season. For example, the new Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System allows the hitter, pitcher, or catcher to challenge a strike using high-tech, high-speed tracking technology, keeping the flow of the game.
During the previous season, it was common for an umpire to miss 11 to 14, with umpires such as CB Bucknor missing an impressive 28 calls in a game. ABS aims to eliminate key missed calls, but each team will receive only two challenges per game to avoid slowing the contest.
While the Braves and Dodgers took home the crown in their respective Spring Training leagues, their rosters are not necessarily in their favor, even after winning their leagues. It really comes down to their performance in the regular season, if they used Spring Training to prepare enough, and if their general manager will make the right moves to push them towards the postseason.