Former Mets and Yankees star Dwight Gooden was sentenced Friday to five years of probation for driving under the influence of cocaine and sleeping pills while taking his 5-year-old son to school.

Gooden, 46, faced three years in prison under the terms of a plea agreement he struck with prosecutors several months ago. But Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia said the former pitcher deserved another chance to rid his life of addiction. Gooden, he said, is a decent guy who had a good chance of “finishing the game.”

The judge told the 1985 National League Cy Young Award winner that he should think of himself now as a fourth-inning pitcher who is getting walloped by the opposing batters and whose coaches are contemplating whether to take him out of the game.

In this game-of-life analogy, Venezia said, failure could mean ruining his legacy, embarrassing his children or even dying at a young age.

Gooden, agreed in an interview after the hearing in Hackensack that his life is on the line.

“I just have to take it a day at a time, and sometimes an hour at a time,” Gooden said. “I can’t look at it like I have to do this for 10 years. I just have to look at it like I have to get through today and then deal with tomorrow when it comes.”