HOUSTON — Somehow, they have become linked, like old vaudeville partners: Judge and Stanton. Or, if you prefer, Stanton and Judge. There is nothing official about that. Mostly, it’s an easy grouping. They are both behemoths (Judge 6-foot-7, 282 pounds; Stanton 6-6, 245). They both put on batting practice shows that have to be seen to be believed.

In 2017, they hit 111 home runs between them.

(Of course, they were playing on different teams at the time, but …)

No matter. They are still easily paired, naturally partnered: Judge & Stanton, Stanton & Judge, Aaron & Giancarlo, me and my shadow, strolling down the avenue …

There is, of course, one small problem with that.

Aaron Judge is already a beloved Yankee. He hit his share of those 111 homers in ’17, 52 of them, wearing pinstripes. He has performed splendidly in the postseason, which is everyone’s examination room when determining someone’s “TrueYankeeNess,” hitting seven homers already in but four playoffs series and two wild-card games with a .983 OPS, playing exquisite defense almost as a by-the-way.

Stanton?

He is still searching for his first genuine Yankees moment. He scuffled badly in last year’s ALDS, 4-for-18 with six strikeouts. His one postseason homer came in last year’s wild-card game, but it came in the eighth inning with the Yankees already safely up by four runs. Though he walked four times against the Twins in the ALDS — and seemed oddly, defiantly pleased with each one — he had just one base hit, batted .167, played a shaky left field.

And in what was mostly a feel-good three-game sweep in that brief encounter with the Twins, Stanton struck out in the fourth inning of Game 2, with the Yankees leading by seven runs …

… and there were more than a few boobirds that took flight at Yankee Stadium.

Few things are certain in this world, fewer still in baseball.

This is certain:

If Stanton doesn’t start to better resemble the player he’s been for most of his career during these playoffs, that soundtrack isn’t going to be muffled. It’s going to be exactly the opposite, in fact. That may not be fair. That may not be nice. But, then, there really is no handbook when you are the highest-paid player in baseball history and the highlights of your postseason, so far, are taking good bases on balls.

“We’re just grinding out at-bats,” Judge said this week. “Making it tough on their pitchers. Staying in our zone is huge. We really made it tough on them and it shows. Over the course of nine innings, if we keep doing that, it’s going to pay off. Wear them down. Wear them down. It might take a little bit longer than we want, but eventually we’re going to get them.”

It’s a marvelous sentiment. And Stanton has been nothing but accountable since he’s been here. He may never land himself a spot in “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations,” but he has answered questions patiently and repeatedly. He has been hurt here, quite a bit. He lost almost his entire regular season.

He still looks like he will launch one 500 feet every time he strides into a fastball. He just hasn’t done that yet. Not in October. Not in an important spot. The Yankees’ lineup is so deep and so dangerous that the others around him in the batting order can mostly carry him.

But $325 million athletes aren’t supposed to be carried.

They’re supposed to do the carrying.

“He will,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who knows as well as anyone the value of maximizing October opportunity. “He’s too good a player not to. I feel he’s right there. I really do.”

For Stanton’s case, his manager needs to be right. It’s his first LCS. It’s the brightest lights, when the biggest players are paged. It really is time.