It is a perfect game and you will note the singular of “game.”

As humans, we want to see one event, particularly a rare one, and bring meaning beyond that. But the only guarantees about Domingo German’s perfect game — singular — is that it will bring greater value to his autograph and assure he will be an answer within a lot more trivia games going forward.

Who are the four Yankees who have pitched perfect games?

There was Don Larsen and if anyone was going to get a career bump from a singular event wouldn’t it come from being the only pitcher (still) to be perfect in the World Series? Except Larsen the following year was basically Larsen — he walked more than he struck out and had a negative ERA-plus.

There was David Wells, who threw the first regular-season Yankees perfect game in 1998, and used that as a launching pad to go from Joe Torre’s doghouse to his ace on arguably the greatest team ever.

There was David Cone the following season, who endured a rain delay to deliver a perfect game vs. the Expos in 1999. In his next two starts, Cone allowed 10 runs in 11 innings. He was the Yankees ace through the perfect game and then went 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA the rest of the regular season.

Now there is German, who in career performance resembles the talented, but underachieving Larsen much more than the accomplished Wells and Cone. Like Wells against the 1998 Twins and Cone against the 1999 Expos, German faced a terrible foe; the historically bad 2023 A’s.

This is not meant as rain on a special accomplishment. Just reality. It is about a forever game. But “game” singular. So a historically great pitcher such as Cy Young could throw the first-ever perfect game and other all-timers such as Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter and Roy Halladay could throw one too. But because it is one game so could Larsen. So could Philip Humber. So could Dallas Braden.

When Humber threw his on April 21, 2012, it was possible to try to project the meaning forward. After all, Humber had been the third-overall pick by the Mets in 2004. He had been a disappointment, but was still just 29 when he overwhelmed the Mariners. It was possible, in the moment, to see this as finding himself. Except from there through the end of the following season — and, thus, the end of his career — Humber went 4-13 with by far the worst ERA (7.59) of anyone who threw 100 innings.

German was 30 when he pitched his gem Wednesday night in Oakland. He has had spurts of really good pitching during his career, but a Larsen-esque similarity of being unable to translate upside into persistent success or even an unquestioned rotation role. Like Larsen, he came to the Yankees as a talented supplementary piece when they landed a more desirable starter — in November 1954, it was the Yankees acquiring “Bullet” Bob Turley from the Orioles, sixty years later, December 2014, it was Nathan Eovaldi from the Marlins.

German has flitted in and out of the rotation since 2017, missing all of 2020 as the continuation of a suspension for violating MLB’s domestic abuse policy. He was suspended earlier this season for 10 games for having an illegal sticky substance on his hand. German returned from that to pitch well and then dreadfully — in his two starts prior to the A’s, German had allowed 17 runs in 5 1/3 innings. He was only in the rotation due to injuries to Frankie Montas, Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes — and if all three were available he would have been out of the rotation after those two bad showings.

Now what? Is he Larsen or Wells? Or neither? For one game — singular — he was brilliant. And it is worth celebrating. My son, Jake, is not much of a baseball fan. But I called him into my room to watch the ninth inning with me and he got into it as I explained the rarity of what was occurring. Humber had thrown the first of three perfect games in 2012, but there had been none since Felix Hernandez produced the 23rd ever on Aug. 15 of that year.

I told Jake I was at the Wells and Cone perfectos, but that the best game I ever saw pitched (not close, by the way) came on Sept. 10, 1999 when Pedro Martinez struck out 17 Yankees. Smack in the middle of their dynasty. In The Bronx. But Chuck Knoblauch was hit by a pitch and Chili Davis, who really couldn’t hit a good fastball any longer, guessed and homered on a Martinez fastball.

That is what makes perfect games so special. So much could lead to a baserunner. A bloop. An error. A pitch grazing a hitter’s jersey. Still, it is a singular event. Like the offensively challenged Yankees scoring 11 runs in support of German after scoring 11 runs combined in the five previous games.

Do you believe that woke up the Yankee offense? Do you believe this will launch German? Or do you believe it was just a perfect game — singular?