Brian Cashman said it perfectly Sunday afternoon, after admiring Aaron Judge for making “an all-time best bet” on himself by turning down the Yankees’ preseason offer of seven years and $213.5 million.

“There’s a pot of gold there,” the Yankees’ general manager said. “It’s yet to be determined how much it weighs. Good for him. It was already a big pot and obviously, it will be bigger.”

Judge’s 2022 season will stand tall among all the seminal seasons in Yankees history despite what happens in October. The sheer magnificence of hitting 62 home runs is a beacon that will blaze forever. But October would provide a perfect epilogue to a virtually pristine year, starting Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Guardians.

The Yankees, after all, by their own corporate mission statement, approach each baseball season as championship-or-bust. And mostly, whenever there has been a peerless season turned in by one of their uber-stars, they have backed it up with a title, and the star in question honors it by making a huge contribution to the cause. Mostly.

Before this year, there was a five-man Bronx Rushmore of such seasons in Yankees history: 1927, Babe Ruth; 1941, Joe DiMaggio; 1956, Mickey Mantle; 1961, Roger Maris; and 2007, Alex Rodriguez. The first four followed the script perfectly, right to the end. The fifth? Well, not so much.

Ruth hit .400 and had the only two home runs in the whole ’27 World Series as the Yankees blitzed the Pirates in four. But those 61st and 62nd blasts of his season were merely the formality; it is an essential chapter of Yankees lore that the batting practice display he and Lou Gehrig put together the day before Game 1 at Forbes Field terrified the Bucs as much as Luca Brasi knocking on the door did to Corleone family enemies.

DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in ’41 was long over by the time the Yankees met the Dodgers in the World Series, but he was still the toast of the town. And while he hit only a modest .263 in the Series, he had what was probably the Series’ key at-bat in Game 4, immediately after Tommy Heinrich reached first thanks to Mickey Owen’s passed ball with two outs and two strikes in the ninth, the Yankees trailing 4-3. DiMaggio kept the line moving with a sharp single, then scored the go-ahead run on a Charlie Keller double.

Triple Crown winner Mantle had two huge moments in the 1956 Series, both in Game 5, otherwise known as the Don Larsen Game. His home run in the fourth inning (one of three in the series) broke a 0-0 tie, and in the sixth he chased down a Gil Hodges blast. Larsen himself admitted that it “would have been a home run in most other parks,” but Mantle “could run like a deer, caught that ball and I had another sigh of relief.”

And five years later, though Roger Maris mostly scuffled through the ’61 World Series against the Reds (hitting just .105) it was his home run at old Crosley Field in the ninth inning of Game 3 that broke a 2-2 tie in the game and a 1-1 deadlock in the series. It was his 62nd homer of the season. Whitey Ford later said, “Once that ball sailed out of the park, we were home free.”

And then, of course, there is A-Rod.

His 2007 season was one for the ages (and the asterisks): .314/.422/.645, with 54 homers and 156 RBIs. But in the playoffs, facing Cleveland, Rodriguez hit a soft .267 with six strikeouts, and while he hit a late home run in Game 4 — ultimately a 6-4 Yankees loss — he is better remembered for feebly whiffing twice against junk-baller Paul Byrd, once with two on and one out. Until his October redemption two years later, that stood as the valedictory of his postseason shortcomings as a Yankee.

Now it is Judge’s turn. He has had decidedly mixed playoff results: 11 home runs in 35 career games, but with a .230 average and an OPS of .843, which is 134 points below his career number — and 268 below the staggering 1.111 he posted this year.

“Obviously every pitch is huge and people are hanging on every pitch,” said manager Aaron Boone, who knows about grabbing October moments with both fists. “You’re just super focused on the moment and trying to be victorious.”

And if Judge can contribute to that? It will be a bonus pot of gold for No. 99.