When is the best time to pay attention to baseball?

Baseball season is six months long, and reaching its dramatic conclusion this weekend, with the American League wild cards and the winner of the National League West still to be decided.

But maybe you aren’t just interested in baseball. Maybe other sports grab your attention during that six-month marathon. What’s the sweet spot for baseball grabbing your attention, deep enough into the season to not be worn out by it, but early enough so that you get the real picture of who the playoff teams are? Let’s see…

Since May 1

AL East: Rays (85-47)

AL Central: White Sox (77-57)

AL West: Astros (79-54)

AL Wild Card: Yankees (79-54) and Blue Jays (76-59)

NL East: Atlanta (74-58)

NL Central: Brewers (79-54)

NL West: Giants (89-44)

NL Wild Card: Dodgers (87-45) and Cardinals (75-58)

Since June 1

AL East: Rays (63-41)

AL Central: White Sox (58-47)

AL West: Astros (64-42)

AL Wild Card: Yankees (62-43) and Mariners (61-43)

NL East: Atlanta (61-46)

NL Central: Brewers (66-39)

NL West: Giants/Dodgers (71-34)

NL Wild Card: Dodgers/Giants (71-34) and Cardinals (59-46)

Since July 1

AL East: Rays (51-27)

AL Central: White Sox (44-36)

AL West: Mariners (47-31)

AL Wild Card: Blue Jays (47-34) and Astros (45-33)

NL East: Atlanta (48-31)

NL Central: Cardinals (49-29)

NL West: Giants (55-25)

NL Wild Card: Dodgers (54-25) and Brewers (47-31)

Since August 1

AL East: Rays (35-19)

AL Central: White Sox (30-24)

AL West: Mariners (33-21)

AL Wild Card: Yankees (36-20) and Blue Jays (35-23)

NL East: Atlanta (34-18)

NL Central: Cardinals (37-18)

NL West: Dodgers (40-13)

NL Wild Card: Giants (40-15) and Brewers (33-21)

Since September 1

AL East: Blue Jays (19-9)

AL Central: White Sox (14-12)

AL West: Mariners (18-8)

AL Wild Card: Astros (15-12) and Red Sox (14-11)

NL East: Atlanta (16-10)

NL Central: Cardinals (22-7)

NL West: Giants (21-6)

NL Wild Card: Dodgers (19-7) and Brewers (14-12)

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The playoff teams have been the playoff teams for most of the year, with the Cardinals and Mariners surging through the late summer.

If you’d first tuned into baseball on July 7, the day after the NBA Finals wrapped up, you’d have the same five playoff teams in the National League, with St. Louis atop the Central and Milwaukee as a wild card, while in the American League, it would be Seattle outpacing Houston in the West and the Yankees and Blue Jays as the wild cards, with the Red Sox under .500 at 35-37.

Obviously, the games before that all still count, but if you’re just a general sports fan, the way this year has played out does show that you’re just fine not getting too deep into baseball until summer really heats up.

Of course, if you’re a Mets fan, that means you’d miss the best part of the season. They’re 31-46 since the end of the NBA Finals after a 45-37 start. But you also might not have gotten your hopes up, and just wondered how they ever were in first place in the first place.