Tony DeMarco

The dismal track records are there to see: Pitchers on three days rest in the postseason since the added round of playoffs in 1995: 20-34, 4.65 ERA.

That’s not an anomaly; that’s 85 starts worth of an overwhelming short-rest trend. And when you think about it, the pitchers making those starts weren’t No. 3s and No. 4s, either. We’re talking staff-ace types only. That makes the numbers even more alarming.

CC Sabathia had fallen right in line with those numbers, as his division series start against the Philadelphia Phillies on short rest last year was a disaster.

He didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, and allowed five earned runs — pushing his failed postseason history to 2-3, 7.92 ERA in five overall starts.

But that was postseasons past, and this is postseason present — and Sabathia has another set of numbers for you: Seven years and $161 million.

That’s the free-agent deal he received last winter to join the Yankees, and in his mind it translates into a whole lot of responsibility and accountability.

He’s been up to the task to say the least, and a new postseason giant has arrived. When you’re 6-7 and listed at 290 pounds, you’re big enough to put a team on your back. And Sabathia has done exactly that.

“I never had any doubt that I could perform on this stage, and pitch well late into October,’’ Sabathia said after his Game 4 domination of the Los Angeles Angels that gave the Yankees a commanding 3-1 ALCS lead. “But it seems like other people did.’’

Not any more. Not after three consecutive stellar postseason outings, and another set of eye-opening numbers: 3-0, 1.19 ERA, 22.2 innings, 17 hits, three walks and 20 strikeouts.

As it turned out, pitching on three days rest in Game 4 had absolutely no negative affect on Sabathia. He needed only 101 pitches to get through eight innings, allowing a solo homer to Kendry Morales in the fifth for the only Angels run in a 10-1 rout.

Sabathia hit just one rough patch — starting with Morales, five of seven hitters reached base with two out and nobody on in the sixth — in what was then a 5-1 game.

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But Juan Rivera hit into a 6-3 double play, and nobody else reached base as Sabathia got the last 10 outs in order, getting stronger as he went, with three of those coming on strikeouts.

“He comes out on three days rest, he throws in the mid-90s, he throws eight innings. We’re very lucky to have CC on our team,’’ Alex Rodriguez said.

In fact, when you look at the two biggest reasons why the Yankees are 6-1 this postseason, and apparently on their way to their first World Series since 2003, you can do the math and come up with $436 million.

That’s the combined number of dollars going in long-term deals to Sabathia and Rodriguez, who also has transformed from postseason zero to hero right before our eyes.

So maybe the Yankees are buying themselves another championship, and you can hate them for it if you’d like. But Sabathia says he is just doing his part — especially when it matters most. And that’s what superstars are supposed to do.

“The contract is something I don’t think about; winning is something I think about every day,’’ he said.

The Yankees wisely put Sabathia in a better position to win — even on three days rest — by governing his innings total down the stretch.

When he took the mound for Game 1 of the division series sweep of the Twins, Sabathia had thrown only 16 innings over the previous 24 days. That’s the luxury of clinching a division title so early.

Sabathia’s last four regular-season starts came on six or seven days rest, and his season innings total was a manageable 230 in 34 starts.

“I had so much rest in September, I feel fine,’’ Sabathia said. “I can pitch on three days rest the rest of the way, if I want to.’’

That wasn’t the case last October, when his division series failure came in the last of four consecutive starts on three days rest, and after a regular season in which he logged 253 innings.

And, it’s a slightly different — and dare we say better — large presence on the mound these days. Even after winning a Cy Young Award in 2007 with Cleveland, and his dominant run with the Brewers last season, Sabathia continues to tweak and improve his repertoire.

He is throwing more two-seam fastballs for movement — his four-seamer can be very straight — and he has refined his changeup, turning it into a much-used swing-and-miss pitch. In fact, he threw 28 of them against the Angels in Game 4.

“(The game plan was to) come out and try to command both sides of the plate,’’ he said. “They came out swinging early in the count, and that worked to our advantage. I threw a couple balls just off the plate, and got out of some innings quick.’’

If the Angels somehow force a Game 7 in this ALCS, Sabathia would be back on regular rest for that outing. Otherwise, he’s looking at making a World Series Game 1 start on seven days rest.

Unlike in both LCS match-ups, there is no extra built-in off day in the World Series — only the traditional two travel days. So if the Fall Classic stretches seven games, Sabathia could be making starts in Games 4 and 7 on short rest.

But now we all know he can dominate in that situation, too — and that track records can be broken.