The Brew Crew are back on the diamond at 2:05 PM against the Texas Rangers as Cactus League play debuts in 2020. Spring training is an exciting thing to follow as it lasts over a month and can be a grind for fans as they patiently wait for their team to round into form and head north for the regular season. Big league regulars will be few for road games the next couple weeks, and starting pitchers only get an inning. For those trying to find meaningful statistics that could predict what’s in store this year, look to two things. 

First, how do the starters do? If the Brewers are consistently ahead after two, three, maybe four innings early in spring training, that’s preferable to having prospects with limited chances of making a big league roster fueling comebacks. Secondly, pitching statistics mean more than offense. Look at the overall team ERA. Because of the elevation, Arizona is a more offensive spring training league than Florida. It is not uncommon for the Cactus League to average an extra run compared to the Grapefruit. When you take a peek at the team ERA statistics, make sure you are making an apples-to-apples comparison and only looking at Cactus League squads. The Dodgers had the second-best team ERA in spring training last year and led the National League in the regular season. It is one of the few, maybe the only stat that tends to translate to meaningful baseball.