If there's one thing to know about Major League Baseball, it's that assuming you know anything before the games get started is foolish.
Last year, for instance, if someone would have said in April that the Boston Red Sox would win the World Series, or the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians would make the playoffs, you would have looked at them as if they had three heads.
Teams can pull off surprises in ways that no one can forecast. That's why the idea of a dark horse is so compelling, because it's easy to create scenarios in which a few things break the right way, and 90-plus wins fall into a team's lap.
There are obvious favorites in all six divisions to start the year. No one will bat an eye upon hearing that Boston, Detroit, Texas, Washington, St. Louis and Los Angeles have the talent to play in October.
But where are the deep sleeper teams at? Is someone ready to make a Pittsburgh- or Cleveland-like surge in 2014?
Let's take a look at the dark-horse contenders in all six MLB divisions at the start of the season.
Note: All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted. Projected 2014 records courtesy of statistician Clay Davenport.
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