There is nothing wrong with spring optimism. It reigns at almost every camp. The Yankees can envision a scenario where everything breaks right and they win about 90 games. The defense and the bullpen do look strong. The over-30 lineup, with health and the right adjustments, might be better. The rotation is mostly young, and could be imposing if healthy. Masahiro Tanaka is already using that time-bomb elbow to throw splitters in the bullpen.

But look around the league. Bud Selig has left the commissioner’s office, and his dream of competitive balance seems real. Which teams, today, can you confidently dismiss from contention? Let’s say six of 30: Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Houston, Philadelphia, Colorado, Arizona. A few more, perhaps, but not many.

Nobody won 100 games last season. Nobody lost 100, either. Nobody seems to expect much from the Yankees, and Girardi — while stopping short of calling his team an underdog — understands that.

“I don’t think the expectations in the clubhouse have changed,” he said. “I think there’s people that make predictions about how many wins you’re going to have as a club, there’s odds that are placed on it, who’s going to win the World Series and who’s the favorite. But inside the clubhouse our expectations are to be the best we can be and to win the World Series.”

At VegasInsider.com on Friday, the Yankees were given 25-to-1 odds to win the World Series — the same as the Mets, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Eleven teams had better odds; 14 teams had worse. Middle of the pack.

The Yankees would hold more promise of rising if their players seemed more capable of improving. They know they must get younger, which explains their signing of Tanaka last year, their trades for starter Nathan Eovaldi and shortstop Didi Gregorius, and their aggressive pursuit of the free agent Yoan Moncada, a 19-year-old infielder from Cuba.

Of course, an older player shows up next week, and the death rattle of the steroid era will groan through the clubhouse in his wake. Alex Rodriguez, who turns 40 in July, will see if he can still turn on fastballs, presumably without the banned drugs he has repeatedly chosen to take.