They are both little more than formalities, the Yankees ready to clinch the East and the Red Sox all but certain to secure the wild card.

But don’t suggest to players that there might be less of an edge to the three-game series between the teams that starts Friday night at the Stadium.

“It’s always going to be amped up between these two teams,” Johnny Damon said. “It’s the best rivalry in sports.”

Mark Teixeira doesn’t expect this series to feel any different than previous Yankees/Red Sox series this season.

And besides, there’s the added bonus of Yankees fans being able to, possibly, celebrate securing the division against the team they hate most.

“It’s going to be fun, every Red Sox series is fun,” Teixeira said. “And there’s still pressure on us because want to continue to play well into the postseason. We want to finish out the division title. So there’s a lot on the line this weekend.”

Though not as much as it appeared there might be when the week started. The Yankees lost two of three in Seattle and the Red Sox had cut what had been a nine-game lead in the standings to five. With the Yankees starting a three-game series in Anaheim and the Red Sox preparing to play four against the Royals, this weekend looked as if it might contain the potential for drama few thought possible 10 days ago.

But with the Red Sox losing their first two games in Kansas City and the Yankees solving, at least for now, their Anaheim angst by winning two of three in Angel Stadium.

“Hopefully that means we’re finding our way again and hopefully in good time for the playoffs,” Damon said of the Yankees winning their first series in Anaheim since May 2004.

And while fans might relish the thought of clinching against the Red Sox, players insisted the opponent is inconsequential.

“The bottom line is we just need to keep worrying about ourselves, regardless of who we’re playing,” Damon said. “We need to win games and obviously Boston has to lose. We just happen to be meeting up right now and hopefully we get another great performance from Joba Friday night and inch closer to the American League East.”

The Yankees were noticeably reserved Tuesday when they became baseball’s first team to clinch a playoff berth, doing so when the Rangers lost in Oakland (the Yankees beat the Angels, 6-5, later that night).

“Our goal coming into the season was always to win the AL East,” Derek Jeter.

Should it happen this weekend, expect the celebration to be more pronounced.

“Winning the division’s very important to us,” Teixeira said after Tuesday’s game. “You don’t see any champagne tonight, but in a couple days hopefully you will.”

Extra rest for CC. Joe Girardi flipped Joba Chamberlain and CC Sabathia so now it will be Chamberlain starting Friday night and Sabathia on Saturday afternoon. Girardi said the Yankees were conscious of Sabathia’s grind down the stretch last season with the Brewers, making three consecutive starts on three days’ rest, and not being as fresh for the playoffs. “This gets him a couple of extra days,” Girardi said. “We started talking about that in the beginning of September.”

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