MLB

Joba’s no lock for ALDS start

Joba Chamberlain is confident he will be able to contribute in the postseason, but Joe Girardi left open the possibility yesterday that the right-hander might not start in the first round.

“There’s two different divisional series,” Girardi said, referring to the varying amounts of days off between games. “In one, you need three starters and in one you need four. I’ll leave it at that.”

With the Yankees’ rotation having developed the way it has, if the Yanks finish with the best record in the league and opt for a greater amount of time off, they could go with only CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte in the ALDS, a best-of-5 series. That would leave Chamberlain, who pitches tonight against Tampa Bay, without a starting spot in the ALDS.

“I’m not even thinking about it,” Chamberlain said. “We’ll try to finish the year strong, and I guess I’ll probably be asked that question again in October . . . October is a long way away.”

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Earlier, Chamberlain had said that he was looking forward to pitching in October.

“It’s still the same, just a different month,” Chamberlain said. “It’s still the same kind of approach . . . whether you’re throwing five [pitches] or 105.”

Partially thanks to pitch counts, Chamberlain has thrown just 10 innings in his previous three starts. He said he knew what the plan was for tonight’s game, but wasn’t sharing it.

“All I’m saying is that I’m going to start,” he said.

If Chamberlain is going to be a factor in the postseason, he has plenty of work to do, since his last effective outing came on July 29, when he pitched eight scoreless innings in a win over the Rays. He added that a productive postseason was still possible.

“No doubt, or else we wouldn’t feel we’d be able to do that,” he said.

But Chamberlain is 0-3 in his last five starts and since the beginning of August, his ERA has risen from 3.58 to 4.41.

“Every start is different, you never feel the same,” said Chamberlain, downplaying the impact his schedule has had on him. “I understand it’s gonna make me better in the long run.”

dan.martin@nypost.com