When Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman nailed down his 30th save of the season on Sunday, he did more than just help his team defeat its arch-rival. Boston's 6-4 win over the New York Yankees put Chapman in an exclusive group of Hall of Fame closers with nine-or-more 30-save seasons.
The only other pitchers to achieve that feat are Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Joe Nathan and Billy Wagner.
“The energy out there, it was amazing,” Chapman said after the game, per MLB.com. “The fans were going crazy. It was very good, and the crowd had very good energy with the game close. It felt good to pitch in that atmosphere.”
In his age 37 season, Chapman is having one of the best of his 16-year career. His 0.680 WHIP is by far the best he has ever accumulated, and it has come in 57.1 innings with the help of 82 strikeouts and only three home runs allowed. He was also named an All-Star for the first time since 2021 and has built a 3.3 bWAR, his best mark since 2012 (3.4).
More importantly for the Red Sox, the win keeps them 1.5 games behind the Yankees for the top Wild Card spot in the American League. That's significant because the bitter rivals are likely to face each other in a first-round best-of-three playoff series. The team with the better record will host all three games.
For Chapman, that means a chance at revenge against a franchise that cut him loose after a serious of bad seasons and infamous blown saves in the postseason. The Yankees even left him off their ALDS roster in 2022, his final season in the Bronx.
“I don’t think about it,’’ Chapman said, according to the New York Post. “I just play. I try to do my job and they try to do their job.”
The Red Sox have 12 games left in the regular season and will finish with two crucial series against the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, as of now the two best teams in the AL by winning percentage.
