Heavyweights ready to match muscle in the Bronx

NEW YORK The Bronx Bombers vs. the Bomba Squad, matchup of the big league heavyweights.

Given the peerless power of the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins, their AL Division Series seems as much bout as baseball.

“It’s cool what both our teams were able to do with the home run,” Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said. “Big punches thrown.”

AL Central champ Minnesota set a big league record with 307 home runs and the AL East- winning Yankees were just behind at 306, both blowing by the previous mark of 267 set by New York last year.

The Twins were third in the major leagues with 51.2% of their runs crossing the plate on dingers and the Yankees fourth at 51.1%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“The ability to change the game with one swing — I think this is going to be a fun series in that way because the two teams that are playing probably have that quality, unlike any two teams maybe that have ever played the game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Nelson Cruz ( 41 homers), Max Kepler ( 36), Miguel Sanó ( 34), Eddie Rosario ( 32) and Mitch Garver ( 31) lead the Twins Cities Thrashers, hoping to reach the League Championship Series for the first time since 2002.

Gleyber Torres ( 38), Gary Sánchez ( 34), Brett Gardner ( 28), Aaron Judge ( 27) and DJ LeMahieu ( 26) top the Yankees, still smarting from losses to Boston in last year’s Division Series.

Now, the Twins and Yankees are ready to tee off in Game 1 Friday.

“I feel like there’s so many shifts and so many different things going on in the game, why would I want to put the ball on the ground for the most part? Ninety- nine percent of the time it’s on the ground, it’s an out,” Judge said. “Why not take three chances to get one out of the park?”

New York beat Minnesota in the 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010 Division Series, then in the 2017 wild- card game after falling behind 3- 0.

Cruz, styling in a shiny Phillip Plein skull and lightning bolt T- shirt, pointed out these Twins have high octane bats that make a difference: hence the Bomba Squad nickname coined by Rosario.

“Anyone in the lineup can do damage and turn the game around. Even the games that we’re behind, we can find a way to come back or make it interesting,” Cruz said.