Fictional race car driver Ricky Bobby would always say that if you aren’t first, you’re last. It’s a bleak outlook to have within the context of competitive sports, but it probably taps into the psyche of many professional athletes.
There’s the champion, and then there’s a list of non-champions ranked in some order based on how early they failed in their quest to win a championship.
It’s a somewhat simplistic view, because not every team goes into a season with a realistic chance to win a championship.
Expectations are relative, and the success of a team’s season will differ depending on the franchise and their current status.