The Yankees, without Anthony Rizzo, will need to fill void at first base and their options are limited

As the regular season wound down this month, Aaron Boone expressed multiple times his usual optimism regarding his team, much of it having to do with the Yankees’ roster being “whole.”

Meaning, relatively speaking, healthy.

Now, with the postseason on the horizon, the Yankees are staring at a gaping hole in their lineup.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who suffered broken bones in his fourth and fifth fingers in his right hand on Saturday after being hit by a pitch, is, in the words of Boone, “a long shot” to play in the Division Series, which starts next Saturday against the winner of the Orioles-Royals Wild Card series.

For his part, Rizzo, speaking early Sunday night after the Yankees’ 6-4 victory over the Pirates at the Stadium concluded a 94-68 season, wasn’t completely ruling it out.

“Absolutely. In my mind, yes,” Rizzo, with his hand in a cast, said of the possibility of playing. “If it’s reality, I don’t know.”

Rizzo, in saying the hand “felt a lot better than expected this morning,” added that he’s unlikely to try baseball activities of any kind before Thursday or Friday.

“[I’ll] be honest with the team,” Rizzo said. “I’m not going to try and play if I can’t, but I’ll definitely do my best.”

Still, two broken fingers are two broken fingers, making Rizzo’s availability a slim proposition at best.

No Rizzo leaves the Yankees with two viable options at the position, neither of whom inspires a great deal of confidence when it comes to the pitch-by-pitch pressure that is October baseball.

One is rookie Ben Rice, called up from the minors in time to start Sunday’s season finale, and the other is utility man Oswaldo Cabrera.

DJ LeMahieu, if healthy, has been a defensive standout much of his career and likely would have been the choice, but the veteran is on the IL with a right hip impingement and doesn’t seem close to returning (he hopes to begin taking swings this week).

Though Rizzo, 35, has had far better seasons at the plate, the veteran is a four-time Gold Glover at the position.

Third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., shortstop Anthony Volpe and second baseman Gleyber Torres each have their share of throws hit the ground before reaching first base. If nothing else, Rizzo excels at picking the ball out of the dirt with consistency, a skill that can become magnified in the postseason.

Rice, drafted as a catcher, came up in mid-June when Rizzo went on the IL with a forearm fracture. He did about as well as could be expected in the field considering he essentially was learning a new position day by day in the big leagues.

Pitchers quickly adjusted to the lefty-hitting Rice, who after hitting three homers against the Red Sox on July 6, went 11-for-98 (.112) with three homers and a .443 OPS in his next 32 games. He was sent back to the minors on Sept. 1.

“A lot of the front office has been excited with what they’ve seen down there and his ability to impact the ball too,” Boone said. “He could be playing a big role for us.”

Rice, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on Sunday, also committed an error in the sixth inning, tossing high to a covering Ian Hamilton at first base.

Cabrera, a natural shortstop during most of his development in the minors, has transformed himself over the last couple of seasons into a player who can play multiple positions. But he has still started all of five games at first in his big-league career.

As for Sunday’s game, a meaningless affair delayed 1 hour and 31 minutes at the start because of rain that persisted much of the afternoon, Clarke Schmidt struggled, allowing four runs, three hits and four walks in four innings, striking out five.

Organizational discussions will heat up this week in deciding between Schmidt and Luis Gil, who also struggled on Saturday, to be the third starter behind Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon in the ALDS.

Alex Verdugo’s two-out, two-run single in the eighth snapped a 4-4 tie and Clay Holmes pitched a perfect ninth for his 30th save.

“I personally think we’re the best team in baseball,” Schmidt said. “And I think we’re going to set out to try and prove that this postseason.”