Red Sox Closer Chapman Joins Elite Class With Record Numbers of Saves

Aroldis Chapman is in rare company among closers in MLB history.

Move over Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith, and Trevor Hoffman, Hall of Famers all, for Boston Red Sox’s elite relief pitcher to join your exclusive club. In closing out Boston’s 4–2 victory on Monday at Miami’s LoanDepot Park over the hometown Marlins, Chapman recorded his 30th save of the 2026 MLB season.

While converting on 30 of 32 opportunities this season, good for sixth place among all relievers (Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker tops all closers with 38 saves prior to Saturday’s games), besides his prized left arm it’s Chapman’s veteran poise that the club is leaning on in the final four weeks of the regular season.

Remaining at the top of his game after 17 MLB seasons, Chapman maybe be staying with Boston for another year after triggering the vesting option in his contract on Aug. 15. After reaching 40 innings this season, he will stay on for one more year with the team as long as he passes an end-of-year physical.

“At this stage of my career, I’m very comfortable here and happy here,” he said recently to MassLive.com. “At this stage, I’d rather have that than [to go] somewhere else for more money where I might not be comfortable, or I might be comfortable. I didn’t want to test that and I wanted to stay here for two years.”

Enjoying his surroundings for a second consecutive season at Fenway Park and on the road with the club’s current makeup is apparent in Chapman’s dominance out of the bullpen this season. When the Red Sox ran off a 21–4 July record, Chapman collected 10 saves. Among Boston’s huge turnaround in July, after being 32–46 in late June, was a 15-game winning streak that tied a club 80-year record dating back to the Ted Williams-era.

No longer viewed as a setup arm coming out of the bullpen, a role that Chapman found himself sliding into with the past two clubs he was with, he once again found his way as the lead lefty being called upon by Red Sox manager Chad Tracy. Chapman’s ageless arm going into this weekend’s series in the Bronx with the New York Yankees has stifled opposing batters to the tune of a 1.81 ERA, 58 strikeouts, and holding opposing clubs to a stingy .195 batting average in 46 games.

Boston’s 13-games above .500 record, at 74–61, offers optimism for a postseason bid. Seven games behind American League East-leading Tampa Bay, the Red Sox are, however, sitting pretty in the Wild Card race. They are 5.5 games up on all American League clubs with the exception of the Yankees to be one of three clubs guaranteed to enter the postseason through baseball’s proverbial back door. Craig Breslow, Boston’s chief baseball officer, had the foresight in December 2024 to not only shore up his club’s bullpen, but to do so with someone who has excelled on the game’s biggest stage—the World Series.

Having an opportunity to be part of a third World Series championship for such a prominent club as the Red Sox wasn’t something Chapman had to think long and hard about.

“I’m very happy to be here in such a historic organization, one of the biggest baseball organizations in the league, and for me, it’s a huge honor to be here,” Chapman said during a press conference with reporters on Dec. 19, 2024. “When my agent brought the option to go to Boston, for me, it was happiness. I was very happy to be able to come to Boston.”

The past two seasons have been a baseball marriage between Chapman and the Red Sox that other clubs he’s pitched for recently would envy. In 2024, when signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chapman tied, with 68 appearances, the most games he was called upon in his career. For his efforts, just 14 saves were recorded. During the 2023 season, Chapman split his time evenly, first with the Kansas City Royals (31 appearances) followed by the Texas Rangers in a late June trade. Although he registered four saves while with the Rangers, his 29 innings pitched and allowing just 21 hits were enough to fuel the club to their first-ever World Series championship.

In 2016 when Chapman was unloaded to the Chicago Cubs in midseason by the Yankees, he contributed 16 saves en route to the franchise winning their first World Series title in 108 years. Stabilizing pitching staff, and coming up big in high leverage situations in the postseason, is among the reasons why the Red Sox went all in on obtaining Chapman’s services last season. He signed a one-year contract extension in August 2025 to remain with Boston in 2026.

As the regular season dwindles in games left to play, Chapman is the right man to have primed in the Red Sox bullpen, as the club prepares for what they hope will be an extended season in October. In the past decade, as closers go, none have come close to being the difference maker for an inning or two at a time as Chapman. The Red Sox couldn’t be happier about that.