NEW YORK >> For the New York Yankees, the real opening day is World Series Game 1.

A little bubbly for a playoff berth, the AL East, the Division Series and their 41st pennant were just warmups.

World Series rings are the only numbers that count when you are measured not among the living but against the ghosts: Yogi, Joltin’ Joe, the Iron Horse, the Babe and the Mick.

“That’s why we’re here. That’s why I get up every single day. That’s why I put in the work not only at the field but in the offseason, is to just bring a championship home back to the city and back to this team,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said when spring training started in February.

“It’s been quite a long time since we’ve got to that finish line,” he added, “but I think a lot of the guys and pieces that we’ve added into this room, especially a couple of changes we made in approaches, guys we brought in, it’s all going to push us towards the right direction, which is ultimately being the last team standing.”

The Yankees are in the World Series for the first time since winning title No. 27 in 2009, starting Friday at the Los Angeles Dodgers or in the Bronx against the New York Mets.

A core in its 30s covets a championship as validation as much as accomplishment. Giancarlo Stanton is in his 15th major league season, Gerrit Cole his 12th and Judge his ninth.

Stanton has been restrained in his assessment.

“As far as I’m concerned, we haven’t done nothing,” he said after Game 4 against the Guardians.

Stanton’s edge was visible during Saturday night’s celebration when Gleyber Torres handed him the AL championship trophy, saying “Take the baby. Take the baby.” Stanton cradled the prize and rocked it back and forth — an apparent reference to Josh Naylor’s home run celebration when he connected against Cole in the 2022 ALDS.

Baseball’s winningest tradition is in the players’ faces from the day they arrive at Yankee Stadium. Oversized photos of pinstriped greats line the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. The walls of the locker room corridor are filled with paintings of recent luminaries.

Players don’t have to be reminded that Yogi Berra won 10 titles, Joe DiMaggio nine, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle seven each (though only four of Ruth’s were with the Yankees), and Lou Gehrig six. Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, both five-time champions, mingled with the current players in August when the 2009 champions were honored on Old-Timers’ Day.

“What makes the Yankees the Yankees is winning and winning a World Series” said Anthony Volpe, a 23-year-old shortstop who is in his second big league season. The Yankees missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016, skidding to an 82-80 record and narrowly avoiding their first losing season since 1992.

Expectations soared after they obtained Juan Soto from San Diego in December, and he set an attitude when he arrived at spring training.