BOSTON - So, in the American League, it’s the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians.

Baseball the way it ought to be.

“The Red Sox have had a great season,’’ Indians manager Eric Wedge said after his team eliminated the New York Yankees from the postseason with a 6-4 victory in the Bronx on Monday. “I feel like we've had a great season. You're going to have two very good teams competing in the ALCS.’’

Actually, you’re going to have the two best teams in the AL.

And probably the two best in baseball.

Truth be told, America has been spared. The folks in Boston and New York might have been eyeing yet another apocalyptic meeting between the Red Sox and Yankees this October — exactly how many times can the world end, anyway? — but there is that (large) segment of the population that undoubtedly was nauseated by the prospect. Fans of the Red Sox and Yankees have offspring scattered all across the globe — think of them as sailors or, better yet, NBA players — but 108 meetings over a five-year span are enough to last a lifetime.

Yes, you read correctly: Since the start of the 2003 season, the Red Sox and Yankees have played 108 games combined in the regular season and postseason, with New York holding the edge in victories, 56-52.

All of those games were not on national television, of course.

It only seems that way.

Lest there be anyone who still feels cheated by New York’s dismissal from the postseason, here’s a tip: Don’t.

First, at least when it comes to baseball, New York was due some heartache at this stage of the year. In the case of the Yankees and Mets, the former died of natural causes after a long and prosperous life while the latter, well, fell down an elevator shaft. (All things considered, New York was due for this.)

Tony Gutierrez / AP C.C. Sabathia leads a Cleveland rotation that is ranked as the best in the AL.

Second, the Red Sox and Indians figure to deliver a compelling series for an assortment of reasons. Boston and Cleveland were both division winners this season, the Red Sox claiming the East and the Indians owning the Central. Both clubs finished with 96 wins. Boston ended up with home field in the playoffs only as the result of having won 5-of-7 regular season meetings, though Cleveland proved that such details are irrelevant once the numbers are reset.

Prior to the playoffs, after all, the Indians were 0-6 against the Yankees in 2007.

That said, the series between Boston and Cleveland features two of the best and brightest young executives in the game (Boston general manager Theo Epstein and Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro) as well as perhaps the top three finishers in the AL Cy Young Award balloting (in no particular order: Josh Beckett, C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona.) Based on bullpen ERA, the bullpens of the Red Sox and Indians ranked a respective first and fourth in the AL this season; the respective starters from each club ranked second (Boston) and first (Cleveland).

Capisce?

These clubs can chuck it.

World Series matchup AP Red Sox vs. Rockies You view breakdowns at each position, then pick World Series winner

As is custom in this day and age, too, there is the requisite amount of incest. Red Sox manager Terry Francona, pitching coach John Farrell and outfielder Manny Ramirez all coached or played in Cleveland. Meanwhile, Indians manager Eric Wedge and outfielder Trot Nixon both played in Boston. Most incredible of all, perhaps, is that Indians outfielder Kenny Lofton has seemingly played for every major league club but Boston.

As for management, the Red Sox and Indians are both newer-age clubs with modern scouting and sabermetric philosophies, albeit with markedly different payrolls. The Red Sox, after all, finished the regular season with a payroll of roughly $165 million; the Indians were roughly $100 million behind.

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In the end, despite all of those similarities and differences, here is the simplest and most meaningful truth: Both of these clubs deserve to be here. Boston and Cleveland and balanced teams that can pitch, hit and field, and they combined to defeat the Los Angeles Angels and Yankees by a game count of 6-1, eliminating any question about whether the Angels or Yankees (each of whom finished the regular season with 94 wins) deserved to be playing for the right to go to the World Series.

And so, in the AL this season, the best team will be going to the World Series.

Now it’s just a matter of finding out exactly who that is.

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