In retrospect, it is hard to believe that in the middle of the season, the Yankees had a lot more explaining to do than the Mets did. Remember when Hal Steinbrenner held a press conference to blame his players for putting their manager, Aaron Boone, and general manager, Brian Cashman, in harm’s way?

“I am aggravated, frustrated, angry,” the owner said on July of his team, then 41-39, though he chose not to act on those emotions. Cashman ultimately made his big trade-deadline moves, and the Yankees did just enough winning over time to find themselves half a game ahead of the Blue Jays for the second wild card after Wednesday night’s 7-3 comeback victory over the Rangers in The Bronx.

Gleyber Torres laced a two-out RBI double for the deciding run in the eighth inning, before his dramatic head-first slide across the plate made it a two-run game. Gary Sanchez, who had extinguished Adolis Garcia’s steal attempt after coming off the bench, then blew it open with a two-run blast to center.

Torres and Sanchez, two guys who have had a rough go of it, came through in crunch time and perhaps offered a sign of things to come.

Or perhaps not.

After all, the Yankees have played a season best described as maddening. They delivered a winning streak that even the 1998 powerhouse couldn’t touch, the franchise’s longest streak in 60 years. And yet they suffered enough inexplicable losses to enough unworthy opponents to leave their fans terrified of missing the playoffs. How is it possible that the Yankees lost eight times to the Orioles, who now have a record of 48-104?

Starting Friday night at Fenway Park, the mystery will be solved one way or another. The Yankees will play their final nine games against the beasts of the AL East — the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rays — who own a combined 29-19 record against them. These games will finally answer the questions that have hovered uneasily over the 2021 Yankees for the better part of six months:

Were they always legitimate and opportunistic contenders just waiting for end-of-season pressure to propel them to a higher level of achievement?

Or were they always counterfeit goods?

“What’s comforting is we’re in control of things,” Boone said. “There’s some comfort in that. It’s on us. It’s right in front of us. … There’s some comfort in knowing we don’t have to get help from anyone else.”

Before the game, the manager put it this way: “I think when you’re fighting for a couple of spots between a few teams, the fact that you get to settle it mano a mano on the field, I think that’s the way it should be.”

No question. The Yankees don’t control their own destiny, if only because the definition of the word strongly suggests that nobody does. But what would be better for these Yankees than facing Boston and Toronto over the next six games, before returning home to play a Tampa Bay team that will likely be in cool-down mode with the division title clinched?

The possibilities were exciting enough for Gerrit Cole, Friday’s starter, to compare his Yankees to ancient warriors who — at least by the telling of one Cole friend — toughened up by engaging in war games with the most fearsome available enemies.

“Sure we’ve lost some battles,” the ace said, “but we still have the war ahead of us.”

Cole might have been better off just saying that pressure is a privilege.

Either way, now that injuries and COVID-19 have forced them to use a franchise-record 59 players, the Yankees have a ton of things working in their favor. They have the Twin Towers, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, healthy and swinging heavy lumber at the same time. They have a healthy $324 million pitcher to set the tone against the Red Sox, even though Cole has surrendered eight earned runs over 10 innings in his two Fenway starts this year.

The Yankees also have a feel-good story in Luis Severino — back after a two-year battle with injuries — to create the kind of emotional boost a team often needs at the end of an endless regular season.

“Hopefully that is something that can be a little bit of an inspiring, or another level of pick-me-up at this time of year when you’re really grinding,” Boone said.

In other words, the Yankees have everything they need to qualify for the one-and-done wild-card shootout. It would require them to finish third in their division rather than fourth, which really shouldn’t be too much to ask of them.

They are sitting in third now after sweeping the lousy Rangers. Now all remaining questions about the 2021 Yankees will be answered over their final nine games, especially this one:

Were they always the real deal, or just a cruel six-month hoax?