If you're in certain parts of the United States or Canada, it doesn't feel much like spring when you step outside right now. One entity that cares little for what the calendar says is Major League Baseball, which opens spring training every year in mid-February, in blatant violation of the vernal equinox. And in baseball, spring is a time for dreaming, that brief period of time in which no team's pennant hopes have yet been dashed.
Even if every team technically starts at 0-0, we don't really believe that every team has an equal chance to win the World Series. Predictions and projections are frequently wrong -- as a projection guy, that's much to my chagrin -- but part of the fun in sports is when unlikely things happen. Looking at the current projected last-place teams (according to the ZiPS' projection system), even these likely losers have some scenarios in which they can make it to October.
The six teams below all currently project to finish in last place. But ZiPS also says there's a 44 percent chance at least one of the six teams makes the playoffs and a 21 percent chance of one of the teams winning a divisional title. Spring is a time for high hopes, so let's start dreaming ...
Tampa Bay Rays
As last-place teams go, the Rays don't project quite as poorly; their average projected win totals are in the high 70s. The AL East is one of the more balanced divisions in baseball right now, so a team that's projected to win 78-79 games doesn't exactly enter the season in a completely hopeless position.
Many of the biggest names from the Rays have departed to "wealthier" climates and the team's farm system, typically strong but less productive in recent years, is less able to immediately replace the lost players.