When pitchers and catchers report, it's time to get hopeful. Goofily hopeful. The kind of hopeful where you look for signs from the stars and underneath rocks in your backyard that explain why this is the year that your team is destined to win the World Series.

For fans of clubs that finished in last place last year, even that may not be enough. Except -- you should have more faith.

At least one team has gone from the bottom of the division to the postseason every season except for two in the last decade. Four went on to win their division, and the 2013 Red Sox even managed to win the World Series. Here's the full list (division winners in italics):

2011: D-backs
2012: Orioles
2013: Red Sox
2014: 0
2015: Rangers, Cubs
2016: Red Sox
2017: Twins
2018: A's
2019: 0
2020: Marlins, Padres

As none of us will forget, last year was also only a 60-game season. Without even counting the strain that the pandemic had on players, who, like all of us, had to deal with the stress of the pandemic on them and their families, how much can you really know about a team's future based on such a small sample?

Quite frankly, anything is possible this year. So, which teams are most likely to flip the script and go from worst to first? Let's rank them:

1. Nationals

2020 record: 26-34, 9 GB

Everyone knows the story by now: Before the Nationals became World Series champions in 2019, they were a measly 27-33 and fourth in the NL East after 60 games. After that, they rocketed up the standings, took home the trophy and gave Howie Kendrick the key to a lifetime of free drinks in the Beltway. So, how can we possibly judge them after just 60 games in 2020?

Quite frankly, when a team starts with a trio of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Juan Soto, you’re in a pretty good place. Sure, Scherzer and Strasburg have more miles on their arms in the past than they do in the future, but that’s a duo that would immediately improve any rotation outside of maybe the Dodgers' and the Mets'.

Assuming Strasburg begins the year healthy and Patrick Corbin pitches more like his 2017-19 form, it’s not hard to imagine teams struggling to score runs against the Nationals. Add in the thump from additions like Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber -- along with the hopeful breakout of last year’s No. 21 prospect in third baseman Carter Kieboom, and it doesn’t take a whole lot to see the Nationals getting back on top the NL East.

Just don't judge them until game No. 61.

2. Red Sox

2020 record: 24-36, 8 GB

The Red Sox have seemingly made a game out of this. In the past 10 years, they’ve finished in the cellar or on top of the AL East four times each. They’ve even done a worst-to-first twice, taking home the World Series trophy in 2013. While the AL East looks tough this year with the Yankees, Blue Jays and defending American League champion Rays ahead of them, that's never stopped the Boston before.

The lineup is still pure terror for opposing pitchers. Sure, J.D. Martinez had his worst season since he was waiver wire fodder with the Astros, but considering that Martinez essentially willed himself to become a better hitter through extensive work tooling and retooling his swing, we're willing to believe him when he claims a lack of in-game video bothered him.

The baby-faced Rafael Devers took a big step back after his breakout 2019, watching his OPS drop over 100 points. But throw away the first 20 games -- which would be statistical noise in a full-length season -- and he was the same hitter he was the year before.

Finally, even if no one knows how Eduardo Rodríguez will pitch after missing last season with Covid-related myocarditis and Chris Sale may not return until late into the summer, it's pretty unlikely that Boston's pitching will be worse than last year when it posted the worst ERA in the team's 120-year history.

3. D-backs

2020 record: 25-35, 18 GB

Coming off an 85-win season in 2019 where they missed the postseason by four games, the D-Backs went into the 2020 season expecting a playoff push. They acquired Starling Marte from the Pirates and signed Madison Bumgarner away from their division rivals. Even if this wasn’t enough to catch the baseball machine that is the Dodgers in the NL West, they were expected to be competitive.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Marte was later traded to the Marlins(!) of all teams to help with their own postseason push, while Bumgarner struck out as many batters as earned runs he allowed. Coming off a stint where he looked like an ace in 2019, Luke Weaver watched his ERA zoom over 6.00 and he led the Majors in losses with nine. Robbie Ray was shipped out to Toronto after his always precarious command finally left him with a 7.84 ERA across his last handful of starts in the desert.

But again, this was 2020! Nothing from 2020 counts -- not the quarantine EP you’ve recorded in your bedroom that no one will ever hear, and not the third-worst team ERA in team history.

The rotation should be solid next year -- the Marlins may rue the day they sent Zac Gallen and Caleb Smith away. And a veteran lineup featuring Nick Ahmed, Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta may not be the sexiest in baseball, but should be counted on to improve from last year.

Add in Carson Kelly behind the plate and perhaps even top outfield prospect Corbin Carroll breaking through later in the season, and anything is possible -- even if D-backs fans would likely need Southern California to outlaw baseball for Arizona to top the Dodgers and Padres.

4. Rangers

2020 record: 22-38, 14 GB

It will be a trivia question in a few years: Who was the first team to call Globe Life Park in Arlington its home for the postseason? Answer: The Dodgers, who were the home team against the Padres in Game 1 of NLDS last year.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, those new digs didn't help Texas follow up on a 2019 season where they hung around the fringes of the postseason race. So, while the team will no longer have Mike Minor and ace/not-so-secret lumberjack Lance Lynn in those beautiful baby blue unis, there's reason to hope that Joey Gallo will return to his dinger-crushing, MVP-candidate ways of 2019.

Willie Calhoun has also been known for his bat for years, so we can probably discount his .491 OPS last season as he struggled after being hit in the face with a pitch in March.

It may be a longshot for the Rangers to pass the Angels, Astros, A's and even the Mariners, who are a few years ahead of them in their own rebuilding process, but the Texas lineup should still make things interesting in the first year since 2009 that someone other than Elvis Andrus will be manning the six.

5. Tigers

2020 record: 23-35, 12 GB

In all honesty, this is probably not the Tigers' year. The Twins are still the class of the division and the White Sox fatted themselves on free agents like a king trying to catch gout, so it's going to be hard for a rebuilding team like the Tigers to find their way to the front.

Still, there is a lot to like if you're a Tigers fan. The rotation could soon be fronted by the No. 11 and No. 25 prospects in the game in Casey Mize and Matt Manning this year. No. 1 overall Draft pick Spencer Torkelson is expected to reach the Majors next season, and while shortstop Willi Castro is probably not the .349 hitter he was last year, it's not for us to say he can't be.

Miguel Cabrera is also only 34 hits away from 3,000 and 13 home runs shy of 500 -- and this time, he may not need to take a curtain call in front of an empty stadium!

At the very least, it's unlikely that Matt Boyd will surrender back-to-back home runs to the leadoff batters three times in a season again. After all, he's the only one in Major League history to do that.

6. Pirates

2020 record: 19-41, 15 GB

The Pirates were the worst team in the Majors last year. They probably won't do much better this year after they traded Bell to the Nationals -- maybe they could bring in his equally strong dad to take his spot? -- and starters Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon were sent to opposite coasts.

Still, the NL Central is probably the most wide-open of any division, and while you have to do more than a little squinting to turn the Pirates into contenders in 2021, the makings of the next great team could be on the roster. 25-year-old Mitch Keller showed signs of being a future ace last year and said he's ready to become a team leader, while Bryan Reynolds will hopefully play more like the Andy Van Slyke-esque Rookie of the Year candidate he was in 2019, rather than the sub-Mendoza line performance he posted last season.

Then there's Ke'Bryan Hayes, who made his debut on Sept. 1 with two hits and a home run and never stopped hitting from there.

Worst case scenario: The team picks first in the Draft this year and, like the Nationals who got to select Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper in back-to-back Drafts, Pittsburgh gets to reload the same way.