MLB

This swing almost anticlimactic

THESE are the spoils of a sea son well spent, these games the Yankees will play on the West Coast across the next six days, three in Seattle, three in Anaheim, a warm-up lap for the month to come, if not quite a victory lap for the five months past.

For a good long while this season, it seemed these six games could well be the daunting gauntlet through which the Yankees would have to pass in order to qualify for October, an ill-timed scheduling quirk bringing them to the Pacific time zone later in a season than anyone ever wants.

That, of course, was before the Rays imploded, before the Rangers finally faded, before the basic act of qualifying for the October tournament became the given it is now. For sport, the Yankees can still fortify themselves with the task of holding off the Red Sox — six back in the loss column and charging until last night’s 4-3 loss to the Angels, though running out of time and running out of games — and clinching first place in the AL East, a task whose magic number is 10.

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It’s actually possible the Yankees could clinch the East out West, though it’s more likely to happen on the next homestand, perhaps even with the Red Sox in the house to smell the first champagne celebration ever at the new Yankee Stadium — a delicious and delectable possibility. In any event, what promised to be an arduous bell lap is now anything but.

“We still have to maintain our edge,” manager Joe Girardi warned earlier this week. “We want to be playing our best baseball going forward. You never want to let up because there’s never a guarantee you can just fire up the engine again.”

So these are days best spent in preparation, figuring out final roster spots, keeping people healthy or, as in Andy Pettitte’s case, making sure they stay healthy. It would be helpful if the progress Joba Chamberlain made in his last start, against the Angels, be proven to be a trend and not a tease, and it would be wonderful if A.J. Burnett could get a few quality starts under his belt so he could be helpful in the playoffs in a role other than Chief Pie Distributor.

Oh yes, it would be just as wise for Girardi, a religious man, to convey this message to his team, in the event someone wants to invite another opponent into the Octagon anytime soon: Turn the other cheek.

Beyond that?

Enjoy what you’ve earned, and what you’ve been given. It isn’t every year that the pennant race is dulled down the way this one is thanks to the Yankees’ relentless rise, the Red Sox’s recent resurgence, and the dual collapses of Tampa Bay and Texas. Accept the largesse that a stress-free final two weeks provides. And, of course gird yourself: As much as we know that Anything Can Happen, it is also abundantly clear that we are very likely looking at the first Red Sox-Yankees Armageddon in five long years.

Meaningful games in September are overrated, as it turns out, as long as you know you’ll be getting meaningful ones in October. The time has come for the Yankees to embrace the dull grind. Soon enough, they’ll have something else entirely on their hands, something much better. Soon enough.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com