FanPost

Quick question re early and late spring games

Does anyone know: are later spring training games more predictive of the regular season than earlier ones? I know the early games are often just testing out a few players or getting them some experience, and pitchers and hitters are often experimenting with various new things. But as ST goes on, some players are demoted, pitchers get their feel back, and it seems that people settle into their regular season mindsets, to some degree.

I was thinking that the game against the Giants a couple of days ago (where Zito shut us down) was going to be something of a belleweather: a good team, close to the end of ST, and regular veterans playing. We got kicked to the curb. Our record in ST is good, but many of the wins were early, and I don't think we've been looking so good of late.

I know that breaking ST into early and late makes an even bigger mockery of small sample size issues; but to whatever limited extent one can get any information out of this at all, are there any stats that suggest that later games have more value in understanding regular season strengths and weaknesses than early games?

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.