Aaron Boone won’t get to manage Shohei Ohtani.

The two-way Japanese star gave the Yankees the impression the biggest stage in sports on the East Coast wasn’t his preference.

Sunday night at Stamford’s Heights and Lights holiday festival, Brian Cashman dropped the bombshell news that the Yankees didn’t make it past the preliminary round of talks with the two-way Japanese star.

“We have been informed [Sunday] that we have been eliminated from the Ohtani sweepstakes,’’ Cashman said after repelling down 22 stories dressed as an elf.

Cashman said he started to get a bad feeling Friday that the Yankees, who rarely are eliminated from any process in the infancy stages, were not among the teams invited to the second round of the process, which will have teams visiting the hitting/pitching star in Southern California. The first stage consisted of teams sending proposals to CAA, the agency representing the 23-year-old.

Cashman strongly indicated the reason the Yankees didn’t make the cut was that Ohtani preferred a different location and a smaller market than The Bronx.

“I can’t say that is 100 percent the case, but I got the indication Friday evening that our presentation was fantastic and that it might not be a perfect fit,’’ Cashman said of a conversation he had with Ohtani’s representatives. “You can’t make yourself a West Coast [team] and you can’t make yourself a small market. That doesn’t mean he will end up with some team like that, but that was some of the early indicators that the winds weren’t going to go [our] way were blowing here. But if I was a team out West and a team in a small market, I might be a little more excited.’’

Because the Yankees were thought to be the favorite throughout the industry — a status that Cashman said made him “cringe,’’ — to land Ohtani, who was posted Friday by the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Cashman’s bombshell was a strong indicator the Dodgers, Rangers and Mariners are still in the running. The Dodgers and Mariners fit the location, and while Dallas isn’t a small market, it’s not New York. Ohtani also has reportedly told the Red Sox he isn’t interested in playing in Boston either, so the Yankees won’t have the double punch to the gut about not getting him and watching him play for the Red Sox.

Also reported to be eliminated from the Ohtani sweepstakes as of late Sunday night were the Mets, who were never serious contenders, Blue Jays, Athletics, Braves, Brewers,, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Rays, Pirates, Twins, White Sox and Nationals.

Ohtani eliminating the Yankees so early in the process is good news for CC Sabathia’s wish to return to The Bronx. With the right-handed Ohtani not around, the Yankees don’t have to entertain a six-man rotation, which might have been in play if Ohtani chose the Yankees and Sabathia was brought back as a free agent.

Nor do the Yankees have the chore of attempting to find enough at-bats to appease the left-handed hitting Ohtani who wants to hit and pitch. Though Ohtani is valued more for his arm — which pushes speed guns to 100 mph, than his bat, which includes a questionable long swing — Cashman said Friday the Yankees were open to him doing both.

So in the span of three days the Yankees’ offseason plans crystalized. Friday, Boone was hired as Joe Girardi’s replacement, though Cashman wouldn’t comment on that until the final details are completed. Sunday, the Yankees were essentially eliminated in the play-in round for Ohtani.

Cashman, who scouted Ohtani in Japan this past summer, said the presentation turned into Ohtani’s representatives was very good and he praised his staff for the years of work put into the project.

“I said, ‘If it’s not us, it’s not because of us,’ ’’ Cashman said of the message to his staff.

As for where Cashman goes with his offseason work, he mentioned the rotation that many believed Ohtani would be the ace of.

“We are constantly going to look to improve our starting rotation. I think maybe the biggest focus is CC Sabathia who has been here a long time and one of the leaders in the clubhouse,’’ Cashman said of the 37-year-old veteran, who went 14-5 this past season. “We will talk to his agent and see how that plays out.’’

However that turns out, it won’t have the magnitude of the stunning news Cashman delivered Sunday.