Spring Training
Six weeks in Florida and Arizona that decide roster spots and nothing else.
What it actually is. Clubs report in mid February and play about thirty exhibition games through March. The fifteen clubs training in Florida make up the Grapefruit League and the fifteen in Arizona the Cactus League. Nothing counts in the standings. Its real purpose is getting pitchers built up to a starter's workload and settling the last few roster spots.
What somebody who knows the game gets out of it. Spring statistics are close to worthless and it is worth understanding exactly why, because it is a clean lesson in sample and context. The samples are tiny, the competition is a mix of established players and minor leaguers, the parks in Arizona play at altitude in dry air, and pitchers are deliberately working on pitches rather than trying to get hitters out. A hitter batting .400 in March is not telling you anything. What is worth watching is velocity, health and whether a pitcher is throwing a new pitch.
The numbers worth knowing. Roughly six weeks, about thirty games, and a starter builds from two innings to five or six across them. A club invites 55 to 70 players to major league camp.
What people get wrong about it. A strong spring does not win a job on merit alone, because roster decisions are constrained by options and contracts. A player out of minor league options frequently makes a team over a better player who can be sent down freely, which is a rules outcome rather than a baseball one.
At Little League and travel ball. The travel ball equivalent is winter workouts and the first tournaments of the spring, and the same lesson applies: February results tell you about who has been throwing indoors, not about who is good. Arm building is the real work, and rushing it in cold weather is where spring arm injuries come from.
Batter's Eye: look up anything in baseball