Brett Gardner appeared in all three games of his first playoff series, the 2009 ALDS, also against the Twins — except he was deployed exclusively as a runner and a late defensive replacement in center field for Melky Cabrera.

George Steinbrenner was ill by then, in full retreat from his day-to-day immersion running the Yankees. But make no mistake, these were still George Steinbrenner’s Yankees. They believed in stars and throwing money at problems and top-heavy rosters. In that realm, Gardner was the type of player who flitted through the pinstripe scene quickly. Fourth outfielders without power made pit stops with the Yankees en route to becoming Royals.

Except there was Gardner on Friday night against the Twins in another postseason. Just like in the championship season of 2009, the Yankees have a stacked lineup. In 2009, Mark Teixeira hit third, just ahead of Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, just behind Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon. In 2019, for the team that led the majors in runs, Gardner hit third in a 10-4 ALDS Game 1 triumph, ahead of Edwin Encarnacion and Giancarlo Stanton, behind DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge.

Manager Aaron Boone did not install Gardner there out of seniority or sympathy. Between the lack of lefty diversity and the kind of year Gardner had, Boone said, “It’s clear, in my mind, to have him in that three-hole.”

Gardner honored the decision with a two-out homer in the sixth inning. So, he was back in that slot for Game 2 — before which Teixeira threw out the ceremonial first pitch to mark that he had beaten the Twins 10 years earlier in ALDS Game 2 with a 11th-inning leadoff homer.

Just think about the odds that Gardner would outlast them all from 2009, be the link from Jeter to Judge. CC Sabathia is the only other current Yankee who was part of that last championship team. But after another injury-marred season, Sabathia is inactive for this series with a bum shoulder. Sabathia, who started Game 1 in every round in 2009, would have been a reliever this time if he had been healthy.

Gardner is a main man, which is an upset even based on perceptions from last offseason. When Gardner signed a one-year, $7.5 million deal to stay with the Yankees before free agency even began, the most common refrains were: A case of teacher’s pet charity from Gardner’s biggest supporter, general manager Brian Cashman, or Hal Steinbrenner’s devious way to overstock the outfield to assure that he did not have to spend on Bryce Harper.

The idea was Gardner was going to be a fourth outfielder, preserved so he would avoid familiar worn-down, end-of-season issues. But the Yankees’ outfield glut thinned and Gardner’s role expanded, because just as in 2009, he can still run and he can still defend, but now he can hit homers. He was third on the team in games played, and he excelled late in the season, rather than tiring, as he hit 10 homers in September and then went into the second deck Friday night.

He hit a career-best 28 homers this season, evolving with the times. He had always been able to crush homers in batting practice and had the skill to elevate to his pull-side even in games. But he was a speed player, so he accentuated long at-bats, on-base percentage and darting grounders to the left side and letting his legs work. But that is not the game in 2019. So Gardner gathered the intel of modernity — data, video, etc. — and went to work on refining a repeatable swing that would allow him to launch.

Wins Above Replacement has always appreciated Gardner because he is so good on the bases and on defense. But the homers helped him reach 4.0 WAR this year, which is All-Star level. Add in his leadership and you can see how he is not a luxury or a charity case, but rather someone the Yankees will probably want around in 2020 as well, even with what promises to be another outfield glut.

It is an amazing journey. The slap-hitter who showed up first in 2008 and simply has outlasted all around him in pinstripes, stuck around so long that there he is in the top 50 or 25 or 10 of so many team categories.

“I’ll tell you a funny thing,” Gardner said after elevating some to the pull-side in batting practice before hitting third in Game 2. “I have lived in 13 or 14 different places in Tampa for spring training every year. I never got a place there. I had no way of knowing I would be around this long.”