MLB

Nothing Rodriguez can’t do this October

Maybe for his next trick, in the World Series, Alex Rodriguez can throw a couple of innings of relief, too. Maybe he can make a few pitching changes, hit a few pregame fungos, pitch some batting practice, moonlight as the bullpen catcher. Maybe he can line the field, water the infield, cut the grass.

Maybe he can spell Ken Rosenthal as the Fox sideline reporter for a few innings, share an inning of play-by-play with John Sterling in the radio booth, help George King out by running a few quotes, gab about it for a couple of hours every day on talk radio.

Maybe then he can prove just how valuable he’s been this October.

PHOTOS: YANKEES DEFEAT ANGELS

A-Rod Doing it All This October

A-Rod Gets First Shot at Championship

Sabathia Named ALCS MVP

Get MORE Yankees’ coverage here.

For now, he will have to settle for a pending date with the World Series, a destination that escaped him his first 14 years as a major leaguer. For now, he will have to settle for being the uncrowned MVP, the single-biggest reason the Yankees will play in the Series for the 40th time overall, the first time since 2003.

CC Sabathia goes permanently into the history books as the MVP of this American League Championship Series, and he is not an unworthy choice. Sabathia won two games against the Angels, one of them on short rest, and the way baseball has evolved when you win an October game on short rest they treat you as a cross between Audie Murphy, Sgt. York and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

YANKEES BLOG

BOX SCORE

Good for Sabathia, heading for a Game 1 World Series matchup with his old Indians teammate Cliff Lee. At best, in truth, just half the trophy should have crossed the bridge with him back to Bergen County.

Because to have seen Rodriguez across these six games of the ALCS was to witness the expansion of a reputation and the expulsion of an entire brigade of demons. It was to see Rodriguez not only rise large with his bat but to elevate even higher with his heart, with a selfless sense of who he is in the middle of this relentless lineup.

“When he’s playing the way he’s playing,” Johnny Damon said in the middle of a soaking-wet clubhouse when this 5-2 clincher was over, “then there really isn’t anything we think he can’t do.”

VAC’S WHACKS

VACCARO ON TWITTER

His numbers were borderline absurd in this series: a .429 average, a team-high six RBIs, an OPS of 1.519 that almost defies the laws of mathematics. But his impact went so far beyond the numbers that even the most devout SABR-metrician needed to take pause; every at-bat brought a buzz to the ballparks and a lump to throats of the Angels’ pitchers.

And even when he wasn’t hitting balls over the sky, he was drilling holes clear through the Angels’ hearts. Last night was a perfect example, two singles and three bases on balls in five plate appearances, including a bases-loaded walk that drove in what proved to be the money run in the fourth.

“All year,” Rodriguez would say, “all along, all this team cared about was winning.”

All year, all along, A-Rod had lived that credo, had preached about “passing the baton,” about embracing the discipline to take what the pitchers were giving him, not unlike the lessons a young quarterback must heed. In past Octobers, he would press, and he would flail, and he would over-try and he would over-swing. The best player on the planet often looked like the last man on the roster.

Just not this October. From the moment Rodriguez made Joe Nathan’s best fastball disappear in Game 2 of the Division Series, he has made it clear that this time he really would vanquish all the past sins and all the old miseries. Long balls, smallball, it didn’t matter. Just by showing up every day, he was worth a run and a half by himself.

It wasn’t enough to win the MVP trophy, but that’s hardly a concern any longer. In his 15th year as the world’s greatest player, Alex Rodriguez finally will step onto a World Series stage. It is a setting befitting a player whose destination finally has matched the glories of his journey. Which, in the end, is the most valuable thing of all.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com