You don't need me to tell you how dominant Aroldis Chapman has been this season. The Boston Red Sox's closer has been a revelation in the ninth inning, authoring a 1.14 ERA in 55.1 innings this season while locking down 29 saves.
The recently-extended closer earned the eighth All-Star nod of his career in July (and first since his 2021 season with the New York Yankees), though his recent stretch of baseball has been nothing short of historically dominant.
From his July 26 save against the Dodgers through September 10 against the A's, Chapman allowed zero hits and just four walks, compared to 17 strikeouts. He faced 45 batters in that time. That's 13 2/3 consecutive no-hit innings in which the veteran southpaw has produced a 0.00 ERA and 11 saves.
Considering a few of those outings came against his former team back in August, you can be sure that Chapman's dominance has been noticed by Yankees fans.
Again, this is the man who used to flop sweat a geyser every time he appeared at Fenway Park - 5.71 ERA in 18 appearances there as a Yankee! https://t.co/aoT5RaVc82
— Adam Weinrib (@AdamWeinrib) September 1, 2025
Chapman has allowed a scant 0.68 ERA in 26 2/3 innings at home this year, and it's safe to say that he's figured out how to pitch at Fenway Park.
Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman approaching historic levels of dominance
Chapman's streak of 13 2/3 consecutive hitless innings was still a ways off the MLB record —set by Dennis Eckersley in 1977 with Cleveland — though he is approaching a huge glut of pitchers who are currently tied for second on that leaderboard with 16 hitless innings.
It's remarkable how dominant Chapman has become in his age-37 season, as he's producing arguably the finest campaign in a Hall of Fame career. His 1.00 ERA is a career-low, and his strikeout rate remains near 40% despite a relative drop in his velocity.
It's unlikely that he can win anything more than the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year award (talk about upsetting Yankees fans) thanks to the presence of Tarik Skubal and teammate Garrett Crochet, though Emmanuel Clase finished third in Cy Young voting just last year as a closer, and Chapman's season is starting to near that level of dominance.
Clase (2024): 0.61 ERA, 4.4 WAR, 47 Saves
Chapman (2025): 1.00 ERA, 3.3 WAR, 28 Saves
Considering that he gave the Yankees negative contributions in his final season in the Bronx (4.46 ERA, -0.2 WAR), it's all that much sweet that the Red Sox's pitching factory has somehow discovered the best version of the legendary closer in 2025.