The Most Valuable Yankee this October will not be the one with the biggest biceps, nor the one with the most zeroes on his paycheck, nor the one whose fastball short-circuits the most radar guns.

It will not be one of the obvious guys – a Jeter or a Sheffield or an A-Rod – and it most certainly won’t be one of the starting pitchers, since after Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber, it’s anyone’s guess who they will even be.

It won’t even be Mariano Rivera, because without the Most Valuable Yankee’s help, Mo might not even find his way into a ballgame.

This October, if the Yankees are to go anywhere other than Minnesota for the weekend, the Most Valuable Yankee will have to be the one who bridges the chasm between starter and closer. Tom Gordon, step up and claim your prize.

The same way the 1996 Yankees would have won nothing if not for the young Rivera setting the stage for closer John Wetteland, the 2004 Yankees will win nothing if Gordon cannot hold a spot for Rivera.

The American League Division Series gets underway tonight, with the Yankees hosting the Al Central champion Twins at the Stadium, and if there is to be any hope of a rematch of last year’s heart-stopping ALCS with the Red Sox, that hope lies with the Yankees bullpen.

The Yankee offense may have won more than its share of games between April Fool’s Day and Labor Day, but as the calendar moves toward Halloween, the bats often go into hiding. October is pitching season, and in that department the Yankees lag behind nearly every other team in the playoffs.

These are no longer the Yankees of Clemens and Pettitte, Wells and Cone and El Duque, even if someone named Orlando Hernandez is still kicking around on the roster.

Unquestionably, the Sox’ Curt Schilling and the Twins’ Johan Santana are the class of the AL post-season starting pitching. Even a diminished Pedro Martinez is better than anyone the Yankees can throw out there, even if just for six innings. Toss in the Angels’ Kelvim Escobar, and a rotation culled from the top starters of all four remaining AL teams relegates every Yankee starter to middle relief.

Eight AL playoff starters have lower ERAs than that of the best of the Yankees, Jon Lieber, who comes in at a pedestrian 4.33. Of course, opposing hitters are batting .301 against him.

Meanwhile, the Yankee starter generally considered the “best” of a mediocre lot, Mike Mussina, has an ERA of 4.59. Opponents have hit .276 against him. From there, things only get worse: Javier Vazquez has allowed more than a home run per game in 32 starts, has won just three times since the All-Star break, and sports an ERA of 4.91.

Hernandez, the pitcher formerly known as El Duque, has impressive numbers (8-2, 3.30, .230 BAA) but shoulder “weakness” has reduced his repertoire to a collection of junk balls and floaters. Esteban Loiaza’s picture is on the side of a milk carton and no one knows if Kevin Brown can be trusted – on the mound or in the runway.

Thankfully for the Yanks, having a relief duo as strong as Gordon and Rivera means the starters don’t have to win games so much as deliver winnable games into the sixth inning.

The blueprint for Yankee success in 2004 will have to be the one that worked in 1996. That was six innings of solid starting, two innings of unhittable setup work by Rivera, followed by three quick outs from Series MVP Wetteland.

Now, it will have to be six innings from somebody, two innings from Gordon, and three quick outs from Rivera. Without Gordon, the Yankees never get to Rivera, or even to the ALCS. Without Gordon, they might not even get home from the Metrodome, site of Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Saturday.

So far, the blueprint has worked. At 36, Gordon appeared in a career-high 80 games, and with the exception of a dull August, has maintained a high level of performance throughout the season. Thirty-six times he has been able to hold a Yankee lead for Rivera. Four times, he was able to nail down saves on nights Rivera needed a rest. His strikeout ratio – 96 in 89.2 innings, or nearly 10 for every nine innings pitched – was the highest on the team.

But that was in the regular season, when the games don’t mean much to the Yankees, except as a way to fill the ballpark in the months leading to October.

Starting tonight, the games become real. In Yankeeland, anything less than a championship is considered failure, and the Yankees have failed three years running. Unless the bullpen comes up big, the 2004 Yankees will fail again. No one in that bullpen is bigger than Tom Gordon, not even Rivera himself, because you can’t cross a river without a good solid bridge.