From log.go (the implementation of the log package) :
167 // Println calls l.Output to print to the logger.
168 // Arguments are handled in the manner of fmt.Pr
Two things are different:
Printing via package log is safe from concurrent goroutines (while plain fmt
isn't)
Log can add timing information automatically.
So these are two completely different things. log is for logging and fmt
for formatting. (Okay, log uses the same verbs and flags, but that is just convenient).