HOUSTON — For New Yorkers, this one stings.

The Astros and Nationals are here at the World Series thanks significantly to starting pitchers who were linked to the Yankees by various degrees before arriving at their current destinations. The Astros just eliminated the Yankees in a heartbreaking American League Championship Series Game 6. And the Mets, well, they’ve been outspent by the Nats in the National League East for several years now, and they’re finally paying the ultimate price.

You could just blow off the World Series and follow that other big story in Washington. Or, you could read this column and appreciate that this Fall Classic, its pain notwithstanding, offers plenty of compelling storylines for even the most jaded, bitter Yankees or Mets fan.

You guessed it: It’s time for our “Ten Most Intriguing People in the World Series” feature, presented annually and unapologetically with a New York bias.

1. Gerritt Cole. He was almost a Yankee, twice. At the very least, when free agency kicks off this winter, the Yankees and Cole, represented by Scott Boras, will touch base and express mutual interest. Yet remember when folks just used to assume that the Yankees would land every big free agent who fit? That notion might have been finally been put to bed last winter when the Yankees passed on both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. And most people who know Cole well think he would choose either the Angels or the Astros over the Yankees, anyway, as long as the dollars are comparable. Nevertheless, we’ll watch him make his World Series debut, starting Game 1 for Houston, and wonder.

2. Patrick Corbin. He is the most recent Ghost of Yankees Past. What if the Yankees had sucked it up last offseason and matched the six-year, $140-million package that he signed with the Nationals? Evidence indicates that Corbin, an upstate New York native who grew up rooting for the Yankees, would’ve been wearing the pinstripes…and that he would’ve done quite well. For the purposes of this conversation, however, let’s see how he performs against the Astros. He’ll probably start Game 3, unless his services are needed in relief before then.

3. Justin Verlander. Yup, the starting pitchers in this series are pretty amazing. Verlander, a Hall of Famer if he retired today, would’ve loved to join the Yankees two years ago, when the Tigers decided to trade him, and, after the Yankees passed for budgetary reasons, it took some selling for him to join the Astros. You can play the “What if…?” game here, too, as you watch the 36-year-old Verlander continue his run of excellence while his famous wife Kate Upton cheers him on from the stands.

4. Stephen Strasburg. A good bet to finish in second place for the National League Cy Young Award (behind the Mets’ Jacob deGrom), Strasburg can opt out of his contract and join Cole in free agency, and why wouldn’t he? Well, the Nats, with whom the right-hander appears to be quite content, could tack some more years and dollars onto the end of his remaining $100 million over four years in order to get him to not opt out, that’s why.

5. Bryce Harper. OK, he’s not actually at this World Series, and he not jealous about that, he told The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, after spending the first seven seasons of his career in D.C. Nevertheless, you know his name will be mentioned about 500 times over the next week-plus. While the focus will likely be on whether the Nats’ culture improved without their former superstar — most would tell you it sure did — I’m actually more impressed with just how prepared the team was, thanks to sharp general manager Mike Rizzo, to move on from Harper with a fully stocked outfield. That’s how you do it, folks.

6. Max Scherzer. Like his former Tigers teammate Verlander, he could probably hang ‘em up right now and set his watch for Cooperstown in five years. He has three Cy Young Awards to Verlander’s one of each (Cy, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player). His “Coulda been a Yankee” narrative? The Yankees passed on his free agency in 2014-15 as they began their endeavor to get under the luxury-tax threshold by 2018, which they accomplished. He has become one of the best free-agent signings ever.

7. Jose Altuve. His ALCS-ending homer off Aroldis Chapman added to his already fantastic legacy. What a special player. He naturally stands out due to his lack of size, yet he should be remembered first for his greatness and then for his unique physique. Let’s see if he can top, or even come close to matching, what he just did.

8. Juan Soto. While he plays left field and Harper patrolled right field (and some center field) in his last few years with the Nats, his massive outfield production made it most possible for Rizzo and his owners, the Lerners, to make a half-hearted offer to Harper and send him on his way upon rejection. Soto, who will turn 21 on Friday, has an MVP trophy in his future.

9. Walter Johnson. Like Harper, he won’t be here, either. Unlike Harper, he has been dead for nearly 73 years. The Big Train personifies baseball’s uneven history in our nation’s capital. The first-ballot (as in first ballot, ever) Hall of Famer pitched for the 1924 World Series champion Senators, the only Washington team to win it all. The city fielded a ball team for another 47 years before going dark from 1972 to 2004, and then the Nationals spent the prior 14 seasons breaking their hearts with playoff failures. Nationals Park should be absolutely rocking this weekend.

see also Nationals' run brings cherished Expos to forefront We all have our hobbies: mine is baseball caps. I... Just as endearing at Washington’s baseball past is the Nats’ baseball’s past. As Mike Vaccaro details in his great column, Youppi! worked as the Expos’ lovable mascot during their star-crossed 36-year run in Montreal until they became the Nationals in 2005. The Expos sadly never qualified for the World Series. Here’s hoping the Nats recognize their Canadian heritage at some point during Games 3 through 5. And if the Rays wind up moving from Tropicana Field, where no one comes to watch really good teams, to Montreal? You’d hear cheers throughout the baseball world.

Honorable Mention: Alex Bregman, Jim Crane, Zack Greinke, Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman.

Let’s catch up on Pop Quiz questions. Both come from Justin David of Northampton, Mass.:

Name the Mets player who appears as himself, in uniform, in the 1997 film “Men in Black.”

Which baseball team did legendary author Harper Lee (“To Kill A Mockingbird”) love the most?

Check out The Post’s new sports podcasts! And I also recommend my friend Sweeny Murti’s “30 With Murti,” as the longtime Yankees reporter for WFAN holds enjoyably breezy conversations with all sorts of folks from the sports and entertainment worlds. Most recently, he spoke with his teammate Suzyn Waldman about being on-site for the 1989 World Series earthquake and with reliever Kent Tekulve about the 1979 “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates who won it all.

Your Pop Quiz answers:

Bernard Gilkey

The Mets

If you have a tidbit that connects baseball with popular culture, please send it to me at kdavidoff@nypost.com.