Good news for the 2019 New York Yankees ... Mariano Rivera says THIS is the year the Bronx Bombers are going back to the World Series!
"I believe this is the year that we going back," Rivera said at Cipriani in NYC ... "Definitely we NEED to win this World Series."
Of course, the last time the Yanks won the World Series, it was 2009 ... and Rivera was the Yankees closer, playing alongside stars like Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada.
In fact, a bunch of Mariano's teammates from that squad came out for Rivera's Hall of Fame induction speech in Cooperstown earlier this month.