For the last few years, the longtime heated rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees has not felt the same as it did decades before.
However, a former Yankee entering his first season with the Red Sox is ready to help turn up the heat.
During Tuesday's exhibition game between the Red Sox and the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol's Sultanes de Monterrey, closer Aroldis Chapman joined the ESPN broadcast to discuss the upcoming 2025 season. Chapman said something he's looking forward to most in a Boston uniform is recording a save at Yankee Stadium against his former team.
During the ESPN broadcast interview, Chapman, a 37-year-old from Cuba, said he wanted to "feel that adrenaline" of closing a game against the Yankees. The seven-time All-Star spent six and a half seasons in the Bronx with the Yankees, but the two sides did not part on the best of terms.
In 2022, before the Yankees began their postseason journey in the AL Divison Series against the Cleveland Guardians, Chapman did not attend a mandatory team workout. He was fined and subsequently left off the first-round roster.
"I think he [Chapman] questioned whether he was going to be on the roster or not," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told ESPN in October 2022.
Despite reaching as high as 106 mph on his fastball, Chapman has often lost the strike zone during his career on the mound. He walked 5.7 batters per nine innings with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024. Chapman beat out Liam Hendriks as the Red Sox' closer to start the 2025 season, an announcement made by manager Alex Cora on Tuesday.
His first potential opportunity to close a game against the Yankees is June 6, when the Red Sox travel to Yankee Stadium for the first time in 2025.
