Jeff Daniels was in the Yankee Stadium press box on Wednesday night.

That cameo, combined with the Yankees winning for the eighth time in their past nine games, made it seem like Daniels’ co-star from “Dumb and Dumber,” Jim Carrey, was going to show up and belt out, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance…”

What preceded that famous line was Carrey’s character being told his chances were “not good,” and him asking whether that meant “like, one out of 100?” That’s just about where the Yankees’ playoff chances stood after their hot start to the month.

Even after briefly climbing back above .500 on Wednesday — they’re at 70-70 after Thursday night’s 10-3 setback against the Tigers — and somehow within seven games of the Blue Jays for the final AL playoff spot with 22 games to go, the Yankees remain long shots to play past Oct. 1.

As of Thursday morning, FanGraphs pegged their playoff chances at 1 percent (they’re now at 0.5 percent). Sure, that was better than the 0.1 percent playoff odds they faced as recently as last Friday, but it indicated they still have a steep mountain to climb.

“We still have a chance, which is crazy,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa said Wednesday.

So, what to make of the Yankees’ recent surge that suddenly has fans dreaming and/or crunching the numbers on what it might take to possibly sneak into October?

The competition certainly hasn’t hurt. Seven games against the lowly Tigers probably would make most teams feel good about themselves again.

In between two series against the Tigers, though, was a three-game sweep of the Astros at Minute Maid Park — and there’s some irony in that, because that stadium has been where plenty of the Yankees’ hopes and dreams have gone to die in recent years.

The callups of top prospects Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells have obviously had a hand in the Yankees playing with some more energy, as has Dominguez’s immediate production and Wells’ work behind the plate.

The result has been a noticeably looser clubhouse with something of a nothing-to-lose mentality after the team shifted its focus to the future a few weeks ago.

“Winning helps,” manager Aaron Boone said. “As much as we try to hang around in that neutral area — and I do think we do a pretty good job of that, even when we’ve gone through our struggles this year — the reality is when you’re playing well and you’re winning and getting contributions from everyone, usually it does a little bit for your psyche and your spirit and your mood. So I think it’s just that.

“Guys are playing well, a lot of different guys are contributing. A lot of the established guys, seeing some of the young guys come up, I think they’ve enjoyed that. We feel like hopefully our best baseball is still ahead of us.”

The best thing the Yankees have working in their favor for a possible miracle, beyond continuing to play better (which likely won’t be enough on its own)?

Six games left against the Blue Jays. But the Yankees still have 10 games to play before then, making it hardly a guarantee those games will carry as much weight as they possibly could.

The Blue Jays aren’t the only team in the Yankees’ way, either. The Rangers and Red Sox are still ahead of them in the wild-card standings, too.

The Yankees do have four games against the Red Sox next week, though they have a 1-8 record against their rivals this season.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays, Rangers and Red Sox all play each other over the final month — meaning guaranteed wins for a team ahead of the Yankees.

In their next 10 games, the Yankees might have to go something like 7-3 against the Brewers, Red Sox and Pirates to enter that first Blue Jays series with a chance to still be in the race.

Even then, it all might be too little, too late.

That said, the Yankees got themselves back above .500 in part by not thinking about a playoff chase. The club signaled it was shifting its focus to a youth movement when it brought up Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza on Aug. 22, a day before GM Brian Cashman labeled the season “a disaster.”

Last week, on the eve of the arrivals of Dominguez and Wells, Gerrit Cole noted the two rookies were coming into a situation with “not a lot of high-pressure games right now.” It was clear the mindset had changed from trying to chase the playoffs at all costs to getting a head start on the future.

“We’re having fun and it’s free,” said Kiner-Falefa, who was bumped out of more regular playing time when the kids came up from Triple-A. “… We’re not looking ahead. We’re just kind of in the moment. As bad as this season’s been and the expectations we had going in, I think this could be a huge blessing moving forward. It just really showed guys if you play loose — if you prepare, but you go in the game with a nothing-to-lose mentality, the results [can] change.

“I’ve been through this on a different team, but everybody in here hasn’t been a part of this. So they didn’t really feel what it is like to really play loose. I think it just opened a lot of eyes in the clubhouse, and I think guys now realize, when we’re in the race, [the mentality] shouldn’t change.

“So I think it sucks that we are where we are, but at the same time, it’s like, I think if we were able to take this mentality [from the beginning], we could do some special things.”

One caveat to take from the Yankees’ September surge, however it ends up playing out?

The good feelings it has created should not soften the hard look at itself the organization plans to take this offseason. One good month should not cover up that the Yankees had three straight losing months before September.

Hal Steinbrenner has pledged a “deep dive” to figure out how it all went wrong, and in all likelihood, that autopsy can and should still begin on Oct. 2.

Want to catch a game? The Yankees schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

When Wells arrived in the big leagues last week, the biggest knock on him was his arm strength — or lack thereof — given that opposing base stealers were 101-for-116 against him in the minors this season.

The catcher was mostly untested in his first four games — he threw out the only runner that tried stealing on him, the Astros’ Mauricio Dubon on Sunday — and the jury is still out on how his arm will play in the majors.

But the Yankees believe the numbers against Wells in the minors may be a little skewed because base stealers at that level can take more risks.

“Not a lot to lose,” catching coach Tanner Swanson said. “They’re working trying to steal as many bases as possible. In terms of the technique and the timing, and especially with a lot of minor league organizations kind of experimenting with the momentum leads or the vault jumps, you need reps of that stuff. So I think there’s a lot more green lights and a lot more guys that are being encouraged to run a lot more freely [in the minors].”

When Dominguez and Wells walked into their first big-league clubhouse last week at Minute Maid Park, they found their lockers set up next to each other.

Right next to them? Aaron Judge.

The configuration was likely not a coincidence as the captain helped welcome them to the Yankees.