In the midst of the last Yankees dynasty, Paul O’Neill turned philosophical about a struggling teammate.

“If you win a championship,” O’Neill mused, “then everyone had a good year.”

It was a veteran’s way of seeing the big picture. Of finding perspective through down times. Because in the euphoria of a parade or a ring ceremony, what becomes easy to dismiss is the misery. What is easy to bathe in are the moments each character along the way helped create forever history.

More than a quarter of a century later, it is a worthwhile sentiment for these Yankees as they try to graduate in this current Aaron Judge-less phase from just surviving to again thriving — on the way, they dream, to something bigger.