This is audition time for the Yankees, but not exclusively for the youngsters who have brought talent and energy to the team.

DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton know they will make the team next year, as opposed to, say, Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira. But how good the Yankees will be in 2024 will have as much to do — at minimum — with what those veterans have left, especially considering they will cost $57 million toward the luxury tax payroll next season.

There are many reasons why the Yankees need a baseball miracle this September to make the playoffs. Even after a 4-3 triumph over the Tigers on Wednesday night gave them an eighth win in nine games they were still 6 ¹/₂ games out of a wild card with 23 games to play. As big as any factor for where the Yankees find themselves was LeMahieu, Rizzo and Stanton performing so miserably during the eight weeks Aaron Judge missed with an injured right big toe.

Rizzo, as we have learned, had an excuse. It turns out he was concussed after his head smashed into Fernando Tatis Jr.’s leg on May 28. Manager Aaron Boone announced this week that Rizzo, who has not played since Aug. 1, has been shut down for the season, so it will not be until next spring that we begin to see if he is sound.

But LeMahieu and Stanton play on. LeMahieu suddenly is performing near his peak and Stanton is homering at a frequency commensurate with his career. But what does that mean? Judge is back to make it easier. Dominguez, in particular, is drawing attention, delivering three hits, including his first Bronx homer, as the Yankees won their fifth in a row. But if the Yankees are going to really make this a race and be factors next year, they will need more from Rizzo and Stanton, who will be in their age-34 seasons in 2024, and from LeMahieu, who will be in his age-35 campaign, at a time when rule changes demand youth and athleticism.

In the best-case scenario, Rizzo will return in 2024 to perform as he did before the injury in 2023 — as among the majors’ most productive first baseman. LeMahieu has seemed to rise while working with new hitting coach Sean Casey after not finding kumbaya with his predecessor, Dillon Lawson. Perhaps he will deliver for a full 2024 the kind of numbers he has since the All-Star break. Maybe Stanton will find a way to mix in more batting average with the power.

In the worst-case scenario, the questions will begin early next season regarding if and when Hal Steinbrenner will have the tolerance to eat contracts (think Aaron Hicks) by letting any of that group go. Rizzo’s pact will expire after 2024, LeMahieu’s after 2026 and Stanton’s after 2027. Again, the Yankees are tied to these players, so it will be hard to be a high-end team if these are not productive.

LeMahieu and Rizzo have a particular value because when they are right they hit good pitching. Rizzo also offers needed lefty diversity.

Casey has theorized that LeMahieu had so disjointed his swing after injuring his foot last season and plummeting in the second half that it took him half a year to find what feels normal for him again. LeMahieu hit .220 with a .643 OPS in the first half. It is .288 and .885 in the second half as he has rediscovered his opposite-field might.

When right, LeMahieu has a catalytic quality for the Yankees. That’s because he can hit those good pitchers. Because he is unflappable. Because he does such a good job hitting in front of Judge, even drawing walks at a strong clip. His walk Wednesday was his 24th in 171 second-half plate appearances, or as many as he had in 305 appearances in the first half. And, of course, no opponent wants to walk LeMahieu in front of Judge.

“I think for a while there it sped up on him as he tried to work on his swing,” Casey said. “He is back to slowing it down. He is back to using the whole field. And when he does that he is just a terrific hitter.”

Meanwhile, Stanton has 13 homers in the second half, the 12th most in the majors. He was homering in 6.3 percent of his plate appearances going into Wednesday, exactly the career rate for someone who hit his 400th homer Tuesday night. But his average is just .203.

Casey said he believes Stanton has been unable to find consistency with his swing, but that there is still a .270-.280 hitter in there.

“He is still helping us win games and it is September [so it is hard to fix things],” Casey said. “But he hits the ball so hard and I don’t think you can hit the ball that hit without having ability still in there.”

Stanton hit a ball 119.5 mph in the first inning Wednesday, breaking Tigers starter Matt Manning’s right foot.

But at what cost does that power come? Batting average (.208 the last two seasons)? Mounting strikeouts? In the first half, Stanton was below his career norm (25.2 percent), but he was at 30.2 percent strikeouts in the second half. Stanton comes by his power naturally, but it plays like too many Yankees hitters who have chased exit velocity at the expense of all else.

Back to the scenarios: the best-case, in which LeMahieu, Rizzo and Stanton deservedly hit 1-3-4 around Judge in 2024. Or the worst, in which they are the Nos. 1-2-3 problems on the roster.