Well, it’s come to this: Baltimore at New York for the last game in Yankee Stadium.

Kind of a sad end to a sad year for both these American League East baseball teams.

The Yankees will sit out the baseball playoffs this fall. So will my Baltimore Orioles.

The former is kind of a surprise — seems the Yankees always weasel their way into October. The latter is not. Baltimore has not made the post-season this century. This season, the Birds started strong, but collapsed in late August.

The game doesn’t mean that much to us Baltimore fans; last place in the division has been assured once again. But Yankee fans would love to close their longtime home with a win.

Part of me wants to see the Orioles win ... but another part of me won’t mind if the Yankees finish their 82nd home game on top. It’s true, the Yankees are easy to root against — but for me, the animosity began during the mid-1970s, when George Steinbrenner took over the franchise and bought all-star after all-star for New York.

Most Baltimore fans — and all baseball fans — can surely appreciate the play of greats like Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Thurman Munson and Yogi Berra. The stadium was their home, too ... and maybe a win would let the baseball ghosts in Monument Park rest easy.

I’d really hate to see a 14-4 Baltimore win, with baseball’s celebrated habit of developing curses for just about everything. The Orioles would probably suffer greatly in the new New York stadium for such an offense. They could lose series after series, maybe 25 years’ worth, for offending the “ghosts” in the Yankee Stadium finale.

Maybe Baltimore won’t try all that hard, and stick to their game plan for the last month. Maybe they’ll take a page out of Denny McClain’s play book: in 1968, the Detroit pitcher threw a nice, fat pitch to Mickey Mantle as the fading Mick was trying to hit homer 534 and pass Jimmy Foxx for third place on the all-time home run list. Mantle smacked it — good sport, that Denny.

The real drama could take place after the game. Will dozens of mounted patrolman ring the infield during the ninth inning, and persuade Yankee fans to stay in their seats — and off the grass — after the last out? Seems like everyone will want a chunk of turf, a vial of dirt, anything from the old stadium.

The Yankees have given away caps, seat cushions and other stuff all year. Maybe they should hand out sledgehammers to fans Sunday night, and spirited demolition can begin after that Baltimore win. Or the New York win.

I just hope they hand out the hammers after the game has ended.