It is their identity. Their strength. Their best pathway from the feel-good of eliminating the Red Sox in the wild-card round for a second straight year to try to claw to the Canyon of Heroes.

The Yankees have their best rotation in more than two decades. And after a season of delays and detours, they finally have their four best going round and round at the ideal time. The Red Sox lineup showed up in The Bronx cold, and Cam Schlittler and Max Fried put their whole season on ice.

The two games played out almost identically — Schlittler and Fried holding down Boston until the Yankees lineup came unleashed. It was 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings for Schlittler in the opener and one run in six innings for Fried on Wednesday night in what became a 9-2 Yankees triumph.

When the Yankees ousted the Red Sox last year, it took three exhausting games and there was no Gerrit Cole, as he was healing after Tommy John surgery. So the Yankees had to turn to the fading Luis Gil in the division series opener that got them off to a losing start against the Blue Jays.