Are the teams we love to hate headed for another historic finish?

I t is either biting irony or eerie coincidence that this summer marks the 40th anniversary of the greatest pennant race of them all.

And it is either biting irony or eerie coincidence that history, maybe louder than a whisper in recent days, threatens to repeat itself.

Under the category of "you can't make this up," let the record show that the Yankees are actually closer to the Red Sox today than they were on Aug. 28, 1978 — 40 years ago Tuesday. Yep. The Yanks were 7 1/2 games out on this day 40 years ago. Tremendous stuff, this. So on Aug. 28, 1978, the Yankees defeated the California Angels, 4-1, before 22,841 at Yankee Stadium (hard to fathom a crowd that small now). Ed Figueroa beat Frank Tanana, while Goose Gossage earned his 19th save. Thurman Munson hit two doubles and Bucky Dent was hitting .249 at the time. Dent finished .243 with five homers in 123 games. The Yankees were 74-54. The Sox beat Seattle, 10-9, before 24,301 at Fenway. Bob Stanley was winning pitcher, defeating Enrique Romo. Fred Lynn went 5-for-5 and Jack Brohamer had four hits. Starting pitcher that day for the Sox: Mike Torrez. The Sox were 82-47. You know the rest: The Yankees, once 14 games back in mid-July of that year, took the lead in the division over Boston on the final week of the season. They had a chance to clinch on the final day of the regular season, but lost to the immortal Rick Waits in New York, while El Tiante pitched a

two-hitter at Fenway to force a onegame playoff.

Dick Stockton, doing Red Sox playby-play, yelled "we go to tomorrow!" after the game's final out, while the message board at the Fens read, "Thank you Rick Waits."

The next day, Dent's homer in the seventh inning Oct. 2, 1978 earned him an infamous middle name from Sox loyalists. It helped the Yankees to the division title in a one-game playoff, one of the most iconic baseball games ever played. No wild card in those days. The 99-63 Sox were left home.

And now ... could it be happening again (only with a wild card this time)?

The Yankees have gained some ground in the last week or so, feasting on the sediment of baseball, while the Sox have illustrated some hints of humanity, embroiled in perhaps their first funk of the season. Surely in a while.

This is allowing Yankee fans to do what they do best: needle and snicker.

This is allowing Sox fans to do what they do best: worry.

All on the 40-year anniversary of the greatest comeback/collapse, too.

Will the Yanks catch their blood rivals? Probably not. Here's why: There are too many hideous teams in baseball for the Sox to play badly enough to crumble. This week, for instance, they play Miami and the White Sox, the best elixirs this side of Baltimore.

The Yankees have the White Sox and Detroit — not much better — perhaps making the rest of the race an exercise on which team drills the dregs harder.

Although there's this: The Yanks and Sox play six more times and the Sox still have to deal with Cleveland and Houston again. As Arte Johnson used to say on "Laugh-In" playing the German soldier: "Verrrrrry interesting."

Sorry, but I love this. The Yankees as the hunter and the Sox as the hunted, just like 1978. The closer it gets, the more the banter percolates. Sure beats arguing politics.

And wouldn't it be a hoot if those last three games at Fenway — the final three of the regular season — mean something? All the history lessons and references to 1978 will make for fascinating reading, listening and watching.

But because both teams will make the playoffs, there's a five-game series looming the next week that will make the divisional race feel like horseshoes at the family picnic.

There's just nothing else in sports better than Yankees and Red Sox. Nothing. As Bill Parcells once said to Phil Simms hearing the catcalls from Redskins fans at RFK Stadium: "Simms, they hate us so much here ... they love us."

That's the Yanks and Sox. They hate each other so much ... they love the fact that the other exists.

Now we might get 1978 all over again. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro