The Mariano Rivera Farewell Tour makes a particularly notable stop tonight. When the Yankees host the Diamondbacks, it will be the last time Rivera won’t have the number 42 all to himself on the field.
For Rivera’s teammates, Jackie Robinson Day (celebrated a day late because the Yankees were off yesterday) means sharing their closer’s digits — and saluting Robinson’s legacy, of course — for a few hours.
They still have a few more months to soak up Rivera’s wisdom and aura, and no one can benefit more than the retiring legend’s neighbors in the bullpen.
“It is a little different this year,” David Robertson said Sunday. “I’m trying to watch whatever he does, see if he does anything different. Try to pay attention to what he’s throwing in games, facing hitters, because I might face that same hitter later in the series.
“I don’t think I’ll ever not see the guy again at the end of the season, but it is different knowing he won’t be here.”
Joba Chamberlain said, “You can’t treat it any different, just because, if you didn’t take advantage of him being around in the first six years of my career, I mean, I’m an idiot.”
Rivera has been an unofficial bullpen coach for at least a decade, an unofficial co-captain to Derek Jeter since the moment George Steinbrenner gave Jeter the title in 2003. He has served as a motivator, a peacemaker, a tactician and much more.
Chamberlain and Robertson have been Rivera’s bullpen mates for parts of seven and six seasons, respectively, putting them in the company of guys like Ramiro Mendoza (eight years), Mike Stanton (seven) and Jeff Nelson (six) as those who have been at Rivera’s side for an extended period. Mendoza, a fellow Panamanian, was Rivera’s contemporary, while Stanton and Nelson held a few years in age and service time over Rivera as he settled into the closer’s role. The two current Yankees right-handers are more truly Rivera protégés than their preceding bullpen occupants.
Robertson, 28, stands as the favorite to succeed Rivera, simply because he is the current eighth-inning setup man — just as Rivera set up John Wetteland by often pitching the seventh as well as the eighth in 1996. Chamberlain, 27, will be a free agent following this season and is a good bet to be pitching in another team’s bullpen next year.
They are very different personalities. Both in the clubhouse and on the field, Robertson is quiet, Chamberlain noisy. Yet when I asked them separately what they have learned most from Rivera, they offered identical answers.
“Consistency,” Robertson said. “He just doesn’t try to do too much. He just throws the ball the same way, lets the ball do what it’s supposed to do and trusts his stuff. His whole game, he’s confident in what he does.”
“Just the consistency of him day in, day out,” Chamberlain said. “As far as, no matter what the situation is. As far as, if he’s been rough for a week, been great for a week, it’s always the same thing. Always the same demeanor. Just the same attitude towards everything.”
At the start of this season, Chamberlain said he told Rivera, “I’m going to try to make this the most fun year you’ve had. I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but I’m going to definitely try.”
Pitching well would be a good start.
“Winning helps,” Chamberlain said, “but just the energy we create down there, the camaraderie that we have as a group. You know how we do it.”
The camaraderie, the culture, starts with Rivera. It starts in the clubhouse with the whole roster, works its way out to the bullpen with the relievers and then jogs onto the field, with “Enter Sandman” blaring, to grace the guys in the game.
Robertson and Chamberlain want to both reward Rivera and learn from him in his final lap. And next year and beyond, as they wear No. 42 for Jackie Robinson Day, they can remember and emulate Rivera as well as honor Robinson himself.
kdavidoff@nypost.com