Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox rounds the bases after his two-run home run during the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves Friday in Kissimmee, Fla. The Red Sox are hoping to rebound from missing the playoffs in 2014 by making a big splash in 2015.

Even before Max Scherzer, Bryce Harper and the rest of the ramped-up Washington Nationals hit the field for their first full-squad workout at spring training, they got the message.

There it was, printed across the top of a practice schedule posted in the clubhouse at Space Coast Stadium. Simple and direct, from manager Matt Williams.

“The road to the World Series begins today.”

A challenge?

A prediction? A statement?

Or, perhaps, a rally cry from Wrigley Field to Fenway Park. Because as Major League Baseball launches speed-up rules this year to cut the length of games, a lot of teams are on the clock.

Throw in the return of Alex Rodriguez from a drug suspension, the possible reinstatement of Pete Rose — imagine the roar he’d get at the All-Star Game in Cincinnati — and fresh ideas pitched by new Commissioner Rob Manfred, and it’s a full plate going into opening day.

“There are so many plotlines unfolding, especially at the start of the year. It’s like a very meaty novel — people want to see how it’s going to turn out,” Toronto Blue Jays sage R.A. Dickey said.

Chicago Cubs newcomer Jon Lester will throw the first pitch of the season, a Sunday night special on April 5 against St. Louis.

Hope springs eternal all over, and now there’s a special kind of Chicago Hope. Credit that to a key free agent — wily, ol’ manager Joe Maddon.

The Cubs haven’t won the crown since 1908, before Wrigley was built. As the fabled ballpark gets a renovation that includes a giant, bright video board, fans are thrilled their franchise is being refurbished, too.

The feeling is mutual across the big leagues. From Cuba to Canada, from the Bay Area to the snow-besieged Northeast, great expectations abound.

Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and the remade Boston Red Sox; Nelson Cruz with the run-starved Seattle Mariners; Jimmy Rollins and the just-keep-missing Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hey, if Kansas City can come so close in the World Series — should Alex Gordon have tried to score in Game 7? — and Pittsburgh can blossom into a perennial playoff contender, then any club truly can reverse its fortunes.

“You look at what the Royals and Pirates have done,” Yankees veteran Carlos Beltran said. “The success they’ve had, other teams want to emulate that. They inspired a lot of people to think, ‘This could be us.’ The Cubs, the Mets, the White Sox, more. Everybody has a chance.”

No wonder Harper, after hearing his Nats had added Scherzer to their robust rotation, said he started laughing and thought: “Where’s my ring?”

Toss the Angels, the Cardinals, the Padres, the Indians, the Tigers and champion Giants and a few more into the mix, along with Rusney Castillo and plenty of Cuban prospects.

It should be an interesting year.