MLB

Yankees have power, pitching & pedigree to finish job

These are the Yankees. Which means they know the rules of engagement: Win a 28th title or bust. There are no in-betweens in pinstripes, no matter how hard they pushed to win 95 games and hold off Baltimore for yet another AL East title.

The judgment days are ahead for a group that set team records for most homers hit (245) and given up (190). That is the long story for the Yankees. The short one is that for the first time since 1981 they begin a postseason without Mariano Rivera in their bullpen.

Here is the rest of the story:

1. PITCH PERFECT

So much attention was focused on the Yankees’ blowing their 10-game AL East lead that it was mostly lost that they built a 10-game advantage.

They did that with a 36-13 run from May 22 to July 18 fueled by a rotation that went deep into games and pitched well: 27-8 with a 3.19 ERA.

And it was a total effort: CC Sabathia (5-1, 2.59), Hiroki Kuroda (6-1, 2.61), Ivan Nova (3-1, 3.07), Andy Pettitte (2-2, 3.45) and Phil Hughes (6-2, 3.58). Nova will not be part of the postseason rotation, but the other four will, and this is a reminder that they are capable of pitching well as a group for a sustained period — which will be needed now.

Sabathia has a mixed history in the postseason, just like he did during this year. But he finished strong in 2012 with life and accuracy on his fastball, and deception on his change and slider. Remember he went 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in five postseason starts in 2009 to key a championship.

Pettitte not only is the most experienced postseason starter in history, but a near-sure thing to keep a team in a game. In his last 10 playoff starts, he has given up three or fewer runs nine times (5-1, 2.84). Kuroda was working on fumes late and Hughes did not end well. So the Yanks head into the postseason feeling good about their veteran lefties, less so about their two righties.

2. BULL-ISH?

Joe Girardi has demonstrated the bigger the game, the more willing (anxious?) he is to play matchup with his pen. So expect to see Girardi looking at his binder quite a bit in the coming days and for him to utilize the length of his relief corps.

After all, he described the final month of the regular season as playoff baseball, and Boone Logan led the majors in appearances (19) after Sept. 1 and David Robertson (18) was tied for second. Joba Chamberlain (14), Cody Eppley (14) and Rafael Soriano (13) broke a few sweats, too. Thus, the three days off between the regular season and the Division Series opener were critical for the Yanks to see if they can refresh these arms.

It is impossible to talk about the pen and not mention the absence of the best playoff pitcher ever, especially since come October Rivera often served as his own set-up man by pitching the eighth inning, too. So a big weight falls to the firm of Robertson & Soriano.

And here is an intangible in these playoffs: With Rivera, the Yanks were filled with confidence and the opponent with dread when he entered. What is the Yankees’ current comfort level with their end game? And already we can assure that the opponent is never going to feel hopeless.

3. CLUTCH QUESTIONS

Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira enter the Division Series with the worst reputations for postseason failure among the Yankees. It is a weight they carry into these playoffs.

A-Rod, of course, was the hitting star of the 2009 title run. But to hear the boos at the Stadium this year as Rodriguez struggled in the clutch (.230) is to know the statute of limitations for appreciating that has expired. Rodriguez has hit just .180 with no homers in 50 at-bats the past two postseasons, and the Yankee season ended with him striking out both years.

He is going to be attacked with Robinson Cano behind him, and if Teixeira and Swisher do not do damage behind Cano, then the Yankees¹ best hitter will see hardly any pitches.

Since joining the Yankees, Swisher is hitting just .160 in the postseason with four homers and five RBIs (a reflection of how bad he has been in the clutch). But Swisher was good all year with runners in scoring position (an AL-high 11 homers to go along with a .995 OPS), and he hit very well down the stretch with the Yanks trying to clinch the AL East.

Teixeira is hitting just .170 in the postseason since joining the Yankees. He played just three games to close the season and was a clutch problem.

4. CAN SO

In his first 28 postseason games, Cano hit .217 with a .634 OPS and two homers in 106 at-bats. But the past two years, Cano has carried over the mantle of the Yankees’ best hitter to the playoffs: .333 average, 1.104 OPS and six homers in 14 games.

Cano finished the season as the hottest hitter in the sport, turning the final nine games into batting practice. He will need to be patient because he almost certainly will be the Yankee hitter who will be worked around — and patience is not a Cano virtue. He also knows that a big playoff will put even greater pressure on the Yankees to sign him to a mega-extension this offseason and avoid his 2013 walk year. But Cano can¹t take that to the plate, also.

5. ICHIRO FACTOR

The Yanks’ greatest hope when they obtained Ichiro Suzuki in July was that leaving a last-place Mariner team for one in first would re-energize him out of the .268 average/.644 OPS slumber he had been in since the start of the 2011 season. But Ichiro was 38 and it was just as conceivable to believe age had caught up to a great hitter who in his first 10 seasons as a Mariner hit .331 with an .806 OPS.

But as a Yankee, Suzuki has approached those numbers (.322/.794) while also providing high-end work on the bases and the field. The Yankee lineup has worked best with Derek Jeter (another guy who revived this year) leading off and Suzuki hitting second.

joel.sherman@nypost.com