To win by far the majors’ best division, the AL East, you better be pulverizing the MLB Least.

For there is most certainly a seventh division this year made up of the worst of the worst. There are always bad teams. But the separation from top to bottom feels as great as ever with one-quarter of the season nearly played.

I have a Sickening Six of the A’s, Royals, Rockies, Nationals, Reds and White Sox. Might the Tigers or Marlins join that list before the end? The Cardinals? For now that is my half-dozen against whom the better clubs better be inflating records.

Because, remember, MLB is back to a balanced schedule. Teams in each division are playing two fewer series against each other — down from 19 games against division foes to 13. So, for example, the AL East is not going to have as many chances to beat up each other and/or make up ground against each other.

“You have to take care of business when you need to,” Kyle Higashioka said. “Yeah, that’s definitely something that’s important, especially when you consider our division.”

Yes, this division. All five members have at least 21 wins — no other division has even two. The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of Oakland with an 11-3 rout Wednesday. Their 21-17 would be tied for the NL Central lead and out and out top the AL Central. It was good enough to be last in the AL East.

The team in first, the Rays, has done what an excellent club should. They have played the most against the Sickening Six and gone 17-2. Baltimore is 9-3. Toronto is 6-1. The Yankees just got their first crack and are 3-0. The Red Sox have yet to encounter the dregs.

There is a comp. In the three full seasons from 2018-2021 (so not the shortened 2020 pandemic season), the Orioles lost at least 108 games each year. The AL East winners — the 2018 Red Sox, 2019 Yankees and 2021 Rays — went a combined 51-6 against Baltimore. That was how the East was won. And it will probably be who fattens up in what essentially feels like 36 homecoming games to not just win the AL East, but to get into the playoffs.

If the season ended today, four AL East teams would be among the six AL playoff clubs. But the fifth team also would be excellent. So there can be no letdowns against bad teams. It might take 90-plus wins to avoid the AL East cellar.

“I have thought this division is like a bad joke for how good it is every year I have been here and it is only more so now,” Gerrit Cole said. “This division is just tough and then you dilute the schedule for lack of a better word. When you have more division games against each other, you could leapfrog one another. Now, if you want to catch Tampa Bay, you have to go 17-2 against those types of clubs, which is still hard to do.”

But even within the sad fraternity, the A’s are distinct — emphasis on stink. Oakland is 8-30 and the eight is more surprising than the 30. This club should be relegated — fittingly the Triple A’s. It is like they mistook the season for a masquerade party and showed up as the 1962 Mets.

The Yankees positively did not fall into trap games between playing the Rays in St. Petersburg and seven games vs. the Rays (four in The Bronx) and Blue Jays (three in Toronto). Still, Oakland is so bad that it is hard to tell if the Yanks are actually playing better. They scored 28 runs in the nine games leading into this series and then outscored the A’s 28-10.

The Yankees had 29 hits versus Oakland — 16 for extra bases. By the conclusion of the fifth inning of the finale, every Yankee had reached safely. Harrison Bader continued his powerful return with a three-run homer. Anthony Volpe launched a grand slam. Aaron Judge, who only had two hits (none for extra bases) versus lefties this year, had two against southpaw starter Kyle Muller (including a double) in just the fifth inning.

Jhony Brito had a familiar start — few problems getting to two strikes (11 of 21 batters), but not enough stuff to consistently finish off hitters. He reached 0-2 seven times, including in counts when he would ultimately allow consecutive second-inning homers to Carlos Perez and Jace Peterson. Brito has now yielded an MLB-high four homers after reaching 0-2.

Against the A’s, it didn’t matter. But Brito’s next start is against the Blue Jays. So the Yankees cannot get Luis Severino, who made his first rehab start Wednesday, back fast enough. That feels like a requirement for the Yankees to maximize their season — just like clobbering the Sickening Six.