NEW YORK — This is not about whistling.

It was never about old-fashioned pitch tipping or modernized sign stealing.

Or banging on pipes or trash cans. Or video cameras. Or the many other things the Astros have been accused of participating in or relying upon since Houston’s rebuilt professional baseball team started beating the rest of Major League Baseball in the grand ol’ game.

So let’s just be real, direct and honest, on the sport’s biggest stage, inside Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx.

This was about the Astros being accused of cheating. Again.

“The problem I have is when other people take shots at us outside this competition,” said a fiery Hinch, before Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday night. “When you guys ask me this question, my face, my name is by my quotes, my opinions — my reaction is all for you guys to tweet out and put on the broadcast. But we have people that are unnamed, or you guys have sources that are giving you information. I suggest they put their name by it if they’re so passionate about it, to comment about my team or my players.”

There were veiled hints at the end of 2017, after the 101-win Astros shelled Yu Darvish for five runs (four earned) in just 1 2/3 innings during Game 7 of the World Series inside Dodger Stadium, then captured their first shining trophy.

The hints became a mid-October investigation by MLB last season, after Cleveland and Boston believed there was more than met the eye when it came to the Astros’ 103 victories.

In a series-deciding Game 5 of the recent AL Division Series inside Minute Maid Park, a 6-1 Astros win was followed by accusations of team-relayed pitching tipping and teases that the victorious home team was blatantly stealing signs.

And before Game 4 of this ALCS reached the first pitch, heat had already been thrown.

Hinch calmly sat behind a podium. A reporter asked a question. The skipper immediately unloaded.

“Man, I’m glad you asked that question, and I thought it would come up,” Hinch said. “We talked about this the other day. And in reality, it’s a joke. But Major League Baseball does a lot to ensure the fairness of the game. There’s people everywhere. If you go through the dugouts and the clubhouses and the hallways, there’s like so many people around that are doing this.

“And then when I get contacted about some questions about whistling, it made me laugh because it’s ridiculous. And had I known that it would take something like that to set off the Yankees or any other team, we would have practiced it in spring training.”

Hinch spent almost 400 words answering one question.

Remember when some Astros fans incorrectly assumed that the club’s new manager was too cool and detached to win big in October?

“There’s nothing going on other than the competition on the field,” said Hinch, hammering his point. “The fact that I had to field the question before a really, really cool game at Yankee Stadium is unfortunate. But we can put it to rest. That will be the last question I answer about pitch tipping or pitch stealing.”

Obviously, it won’t be the last time it’s discussed. And it definitely won’t be the final time a team that has won 311 regular-season games the last three seasons is vaguely accused of cheating.

I will say what I said a year ago, when general manager Jeff Luhnow was forced to answer Q after Q inside Minute Maid Park’s home dugout before Game 4 of the 2018 ALCS.

Until someone hits the Astros with something that sticks, the 2017 World Series winner and ’19 World Series favorite just keeps winning.

The Astros are the new Yankees?

More like these Astros are MLB’s Patriots.

All the whispers, theories and accusations are flimsy whining until real proof is produced.

The Astros didn’t score a run in Game 1, when whistling was supposedly in vogue. Reading and relaying tipped pitches has long been accepted within MLB. Covertly stealing and relaying signs is another matter. Just ask the 2017 Red Sox, who helped make the Apple watch more famous.

“It sucks for our players, because those guys are so talented,” said ace Justin Verlander, one of many Astros who have benefited from the team’s internal analytics. “I don’t think anything should take away from what they’re able to accomplish. And so in that aspect it’s disappointing,”

“But I think we know what’s going on there. Look at what we’re getting accused of. How many runs did we score in (Game 1)? But I understand where the paranoia comes from. We have it. I have it. As far as tipping and signs, I’ll be using multiple signs here (Friday) night. There’s just so many cameras and there’s so much video now, it just kind of evolved a few years ago.”

Are the Astros breaking written rules or bending unwritten ones?

Luhnow was adamant pregame that his team is not “doing anything wrong.”

Like Hinch, Yankees manager Aaron Boone had a chance to make a stand Thursday. Boone used 37 words to pretty much say nothing.

“Sure, there’s boundaries. Yeah. We could have a conversation for days on that,” Boone said. “So, yeah, there’s boundaries. There’s things you’re not allowed to do and things that are perfectly within the context of the game. So, yeah.”

Baseball is almost always behind the pace of its game. The steroid era was replaced by the home run era. Juiced balls have supposedly been replaced by unjuiced balls. We still have little clarity and must constantly accept that what we’re watching is some version of the truth.

If the Astros are cheating, it’s on MLB — or any of the sport’s other 29 teams — to prove it.

If that can’t be done, the Astros’ haters should get used to the team that perfected tanking being a World Series contender through the next decade.

Winners win.

Losers whine.

Especially in baseball.