If it’s starting to feel like there are the legitimate contenders to win the Eastern Conference this season, and the teams they’re going to have to avoid dropping points against to win the Players’ Shield, you’re not wrong.

You only need to look at the current standings to see it.

After a weekend in which Loudoun United became the first club to move past 20 points this season, the Charleston Battery won their fifth consecutive league outing, Louisville City remained undefeated in league play, and Detroit City extended its undefeated streak to five games, the divide between the top four in the East and the bottom seven is inescapable.

• MIND THE GAP: In fourth place, Detroit City already has double the number of points (16) than sixth-placed Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (8). Add North Carolina FC in fifth place, and the entire top five in the East has at least four victories, with only two of the seven teams below them having won twice. The top five all have positive goal differentials, the bottom seven are all in the red.

• CLEAR WATER: There aren’t any outliers here. The top four clubs in the East have produced sterling underlying numbers to back up their results. The Battery’s +5.56 Expected Goal Differential is the best in the Championship so far, while the other three are all in positive territory in the same metric, with Loudoun (+4xGD) just ahead of LouCity (+3.52xGD) in second.

• DIFFERENT WORLD: Compare that to the Western Conference, where this past weekend the only two teams that took victory – Phoenix Rising and Oakland Roots – are still below the playoff line. The six-point margin between first and 10th place in the West is already a 15-point gap in the East.

That the top three teams from last season’s Eastern Conference standings in Louisville City, the Battery and DCFC are in similar positions this year shouldn’t be a surprise. The continuity within each club has set it up for success, with key additions – see Darren Smith in Detroit or Cal Jennings in Charleston – already fitting in quickly to their new surroundings.

It’s also arguably been key to Loudoun United’s ascent as the club doubled-down – as Head Coach Ryan Martin described it – with the players it believed could carry it forward after fading down the stretch last season.

The good news? It doesn’t leave us with the sort of situation we saw three years ago, when the top seven teams that advanced to the postseason from the East were known well in advance of the final day of the regular season. There should be teams that emerge from the pack – keep a close eye on Indy Eleven, the only other team outside the top four to have a positive Expected Goal Differential (0.57xGD) in the East.

For everyone else, it’s time to figure out the path to end up above the playoff line, because the top four seem long gone.