The old adage in baseball is that you shouldn't look at the standings until Memorial Day. There's a lot of noise in the first few weeks of the season, and by time the unofficial open of summer arrives, things have usually settled into place and players are coming back or Earth or climbing out of early season slumps.

On Memorial Day last season, nine of the 10 eventual postseason teams were in postseason position. Only the Chicago Cubs, who were 1 1/2 games behind the first place Milwaukee Brewers, were on the outside looking in. In 2016 six of the 10 eventual postseason teams were in postseason position on Memorial Day. 

Lots can and will change before the end of the season, but, historically, Memorial Day is a good time to start paying attention to the standings. Here's what the 2018 postseason bracket would look like if the season ended Monday:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

NATIONAL LEAGUE

On the other side of the standings, the Baltimore Orioles currently have a slim half-game lead over the Chicago White Sox for the No. 1 pick in the 2019 MLB amateur draft. The Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds are right there too.

Here are six observations from MLB's 2018 Memorial Day standings.

The AL East is already two-team race

I mean, pretty much everyone expected this coming into the season, but it's shocking how quickly the Red Sox and Yankees emerged as the leaders of the pack in the AL East. Look at the division standings:

  1. Boston Red Sox: 37-17
  2. New York Yankees: 33-17 (2 GB)
  3. Tampa Bay Rays: 26-26 (10 GB)
  4. Toronto Blue Jays: 26-29 (12 GB)
  5. Baltimore Orioles: 17-37 (20 GB)

You can already forget about a Cinderella Rays or Blue Jays run to the AL East title. In every other division, the third place team is no more than five games back of first place in the loss column. In the AL East, the third place team is nine games back in the loss column. 

The AL East always seemed destined to be a two-team race. The Red Sox and Yankees took all the mystery out of it before Memorial Day.

The Blue Jays should be active at the trade deadline

MLB: Game Two-Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians
Could Josh Donaldson hit the trade market with the Blue Jays out of the race? USATSI

The Blue Jays are not only 12 games back in the AL East, they're also 8 1/2 games back of the second Wild Card spot, with four teams ahead of them. Furthermore, Toronto is 13-24 since starting the season 12-5, and they've lost 11 of their last 15 games. They're sinking further and further in the standings.

Because of that, it stands to reason GM Ross Atkins will look to unload impending free agents at the trade deadline, and he has some good ones to offer: Josh Donaldson, J.A. Happ, and Marco Estrada. I imagine Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos would be interested in bringing Donaldson and Happ to Atlanta. He originally acquired them while with the Blue Jays.

We all know the Orioles figure to be sellers with Manny Machado and Zach Britton impending free agents. Don't sleep on the Blue Jays though. They've have crashed hard since their 12-5 start, and they're already a long shot to make the postseason. That could make them major players at the trade deadline.

The AL Central may be one of the worst divisions ever

I am of the belief the Indians will eventually kick it into gear and run away with AL Central, but my goodness, look at the current division standings:

  1. Cleveland Indians: 27-25
  2. Detroit Tigers: 24-29 (3 1/2 GB)
  3. Minnesota Twins: 22-27 (3 1/2 GB)
  4. Kansas City Royals: 18-36 (10 GB)
  5. Chicago White Sox: 16-35 (10 1/2 GB)

The Indians would sit no higher than third place in four of the other five divisions. (They'd be second in the NL West.) The five AL Central teams are a combined 59-104 (.362) when not playing each other. That's a 59-win pace across a 162-game season. Oy vey.

Since divisional play started in 1995, the worst division has been the 2005 NL West. The San Diego Padres won that division with an 82-80 record -- they had the seventh best record in the National League and would've finished fifth in the NL East -- and the five teams went a combined 372-438 (.459). The five AL Central teams currently have a combined .413 winning percentage. 

Like I said, I expect the Indians to find their footing at some point and pull away from the rest of the AL Central teams. Right now though, the AL Central is shaping up to be an all-time terrible division.

There may not be a Wild Card safety net for the NL Central and NL West

Last season the NL Wild Card race was over before the All-Star break. It was just a question of which NL West team would win the division and which two teams would play the Wild Card Game. These were the NL Wild Card standings at the All-Star break last year:

  1. Arizona Diamondbacks: 53-36 (+2 GB)
  2. Colorado Rockies: 52-39 
  3. Chicago Cubs: 43-45 (7 1/2 GB)

The D-Backs, Rockies, and first place Los Angeles Dodgers had already separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the NL Wild Card standings. This year's NL Wild Card race is not nearly as lopsided as last season, but the NL East is already starting to take control of things. The current overall NL standings:

  1. Milwaukee Brewers: 35-20
  2. Atlanta Braves: 31-22 (3 GB)
  3. Washington Nationals: 30-22 (3 1/2 GB)
  4. Philadelphia Phillies: 29-22 (4 GB)
  5. Chicago Cubs: 28-22 (4 1/2 GB)

The Brewers at the top, then three NL East teams. The Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals (5 GB) are right there too, but both clubs have had problems putting it all together. The Nationals are getting hot and both the Braves and Phillies are loaded with young talent, and young teams have a way of exceeding expectations and staying in the race longer than expected.

Point is, it's not crazy to think the NL East could send three teams to the postseason this year, like the NL West last year. That's bad news for those NL Central and NL West clubs that are still waiting to go on some sort of run.

The Mets are in serious trouble

Because the NL East is so tough, the New York Mets have a tougher road ahead of them than other NL postseason hopefuls. They have lots of head-to-head games remaining with the Nationals, Phillies, and Braves -- 39 of their final 111 games are against those clubs, so roughly one of every three -- and those games can be a blessing or a curse. They're a chance to make up ground quick or get buried in the standings.

Since starting 11-1, the Mets have the NL's worst record at 15-24  -- they are 9-16 in May -- and they just placed Noah Syndergaard on the disabled list with a finger injury. Staying in the NL East race -- and thus the Wild Card race -- is going to be tough, and if the Mets continue to sink, would they entertain a Jacob deGrom trade? They sold at the deadline last year, but impending free agents only. deGrom is under control through 2020 and would net a huge return.

The Rockies and D-Backs regret letting the Dodgers hang around

MLB: Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers
Despite their bad start, the Dodgers are right back in the NL West race. USATSI

The AL Central's awfulness makes it easy to overlook how mediocre the NL West has been to date. Check out the division standings:

  1. Colorado Rockies: 29-25
  2. Arizona Diamondbacks: 27-26 (1 1/2 GB)
  3. Los Angeles Dodgers: 25-28 (3 1/2 GB)
  4. San Francisco Giants: 25-29 (4 GB)
  5. San Diego Padres: 22-33 (7 1/2 GB)

The Dodgers are three games under .500 and 3 1/2 games back of the division lead. And they've had to win nine of their last 11 games just to get to three games under .500. Los Angeles had a miserable start to the season -- they were 16-26 at one point -- and now they're starting to right the ship, and Clayton Kershaw is due to come off the disabled list Thursday.

The D-Backs had such a great start to the season but have completely collapsed. It's stunning. They won nine straight series to begin the season and were 21-8 at one point, and since then they've gone 6-18 while scoring 20 fewer runs than any other team. The Rockies have mostly tread water this year, largely because they have a team 80 OPS+, second worst in baseball behind the D-Backs (74 OPS+). A Rockies team that can pitch but can't hit. Go figure.

If you're the Dodgers, you have to feel pretty good that you're only 3 1/2 games back after starting the season 16-26. There is still ground to be made up, but yeah, things can be a lot worse. And if you're the Rockies or D-Backs, you can't feel too good about the standings right now. They didn't fully capitalize on the Dodgers' early season slump, and now Los Angeles is in position to steal away the NL West title.