Garrett Crochet took his outstanding Wild Card Game 1 outing into the eighth inning and put the Boston Red Sox in a prime position to beat the New York Yankees. Alex Cora pulled his ace after he collected two outs and let up his fourth hit of the evening to Anthony Volpe, and in came Aroldis Chapman.
The veteran closer looked frazzled as he entered the game outside of his usual domain, the ninth inning. Volpe got in his head at first base, and Chapman attempted to pick him off one too many times. He was awarded second base on a violation, then Chapman induced a flyout of José Caballero, but he didn't look comfortable doing do.
The next inning, Chapman looked even more out of sorts. Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger jumped on him for three straight singles to load the bases with no outs. Then, Chapman remembered who he's recently become.
Chapman collected a four-pitch strikeout of the ever-dangerous Giancarlo Stanton. Then, Jazz Chisholm Jr. flied out to Wilyer Abreu, who has a cannon for an arm — Goldschmidt didn't dare challenge him to a race to home plate. Finally, Chapman fanned Trent Grisham to end the night and secure the Red Sox's 3-1 win.
Aroldis Chapman loaded the bases in the ninth inning against the Yankees before securing three straight outs for a Red Sox win
Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs in the 9th.
— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2025
Then Aroldis Chapman retired three straight 😤 #Postseason pic.twitter.com/WbbZvSC7SM
Chapman is a former Yankee of seven years, and it made his rollercoaster of an outing even sweeter. He went the entire month of August without giving up a hit and usually faces three batters only, but made sure to give New York some false hope in his first outing of the postseason.
The Yankees already got a taste of the best season of Chapman's 16-year, potentially Hall of Fame career during the regular season, but he waited until the playoffs to toy with them. The 37-year-old posted a 1.17 ERA, a 0.70 WHIP, 85 strikeouts, 15 walks and 32 saves on 34 opportunities over 61.1 innings. The last time Chapman even approached an ERA that low was in 2016 when he posted a 1.55 metric. He spent the first half of that season with the Yankees.
After his longer-than-usual outing in Game 1, New York may not see Chapman again for the rest of the Wild Card series, and surely only if it goes three games. Boston has another outstanding former Yankees reliever in it's 'pen, though — maybe Garrett Whitlock can similarly mess with them in a later game this series.