The return of the Yankees to post-season play has been welcome news for TV.

Saturday night’s nail-biting, 13-inning game against the Angels was the best-watched American League Championship game in five years, according Nielsen.

The estimated audience of 9.4 million viewers was 50 percent better than last year’s equivalent Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays game, the ratings indicate.

In New York alone, the Yankees drew an unimaginable 33 percent share of TV homes. (The usual top-rated show might get a 10-15 share of audience.)

Fox has the American League this year (TBS and Fox rotate the ALCS and National League Championship Series every year.) The NLCS between the Dodgers and Phillies, is up, too, over last year — but only by 5 percent, ratings showed.

The news was especially good for Major League Baseball, because regular season numbers for national games on Fox declined this season.