Aaron Boone insisted that the Yankees came close to using his roster’s depth in several Division Series situations and simply never got there.

Instead, he channeled his inner Pat Riley and shortened his playoff appearance against the Royals. Boone had 15 position players, 10 started, and the 11th to come in, Duke Ellis, did so in a relatively meaningless pinch-running spot in Game 5. Jason Dominguez, Trent Grisham, Jose Trevino and Ben Rice never saw the field.

Boone used 10 of his 11 pitchers – all except Luis Gil, who is now scheduled to start Game 4 of the ALCS in Cleveland. But Jake Cousins, Ian Hamilton and Tim Mayza appeared in one game and that trio plus Tim Hill combined to face 14 batters. Clay Holmes scored 18 alone and Luke Weaver scored 15.

It wasn’t as if Boone had concerns about overuse, considering that when the Yankees open the ALCS on Monday, they will have played four games in the last 15 days. Boone started seven players at the same position in each game, initially replacing Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera. These players have done a lot on both sides of the ball, but the Yanks are considering adding Anthony Rizzo (broken fingers) to the ALCS squad.

There will definitely be a roster shakeup as the Yankees add at least one pitcher and it’s conceivable that Nestor Cortes (elbow) could be in play.

But one of the reasons Boone might stick with fewer players – aside from the Yankees’ top-heavy nature – is that the Division Series was a redemption tour for three key players who will obviously also have a crucial say in the ALCS against Cleveland:

1. Clay Holmes. In a flurry of botched saves that cost Holmes his final job, it was easy to forget that the right-hander represented one of the finest achievements of Brian Cashman’s regime. Holmes’ 155 ERA-plus is fourth-best in Yankees history (minimum 200 appearances) behind Mariano Rivera, Goose Gossage and Dellin Betances.

There was a Ryan Pressly touch to Holmes – really good and durable in the regular season and better in the postseason (13 shutout innings in 10 games). Holmes had the feel of his sinker again and when he stays in positive territory the righty is usually very effective. Against Kansas City, Holmes faced 18 batters just two more times in his five shutout innings, walking one and striking out three batters.

The industry knows who he is, and Holmes will sign a strong contract as a free agent this offseason.

2. Giancarlo Stanton. A lot of people say they don’t care what people say. One of the few I would believe is Stanton. He knows how bad it can look if he swings a lot, passes and runs in a controlled manner, which is essentially a jog. He realizes his most important job is to try to stay healthy enough to do damage at the plate.

And he doesn’t change. He knows who he is and I think that helps him a lot this time of year to tune out the noise and not do too much.

Stanton showed great offense against Kansas City, going 6-for-16 with three extra-base hits – most notably a game-tying home run in the eighth inning in Game 3. Stanton now has 12 home runs in 128 postseason plate appearances and is the only Yankees with a better playoff OPS (at least 100 plate appearances) than Stanton’s .987 are Babe Ruth (1.285), Lou Gehrig (1.214) and Reggie Jackson (1.090).

3. Anthony Volpe. If you had known nothing about the ALDS other than Volpe outplaying fellow shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., you would have accurately guessed that the Yankees won the series.

Volpe made a rushing error in Game 1, but mostly played strong defense. The positive was on offense, where he still fell into a big, loose moment too often during the regular season.

Against the Royals, he had three singles in 12 at-bats but walked four strikeouts. And he received no reward for smashing the ball to the right side.

It was like he had a magnet for Tommy Pham’s glove in right field, smashing lineouts at 100.8 mph, 96.8, 99.4 and 103.1 – the last two expected batting averages of .350 and .460 – and he hit a line drive double play to first base in Game 4 that had an expected average of .520.

Nevertheless, his three hits were all pull or up-the-middle singles. Nevertheless, this version, which uses the entire field and makes himself a tough opponent, is the best version of Volpe.

“I thought in those games and the week of preparation leading up to it, he looked as good offensively as he has at any other time of the year,” Boone said. “So I’ll sign up for whatever he’s up to.”