Amidst the chaos of the final two innings Friday night, which included a man trying to fire up his own (sparse) crowd after their team hit into an inning-ending double play, and bullpens politely filing out of the same door to join a mini-fracas, something else quietly happened. Aroldis Chapman picked up his 399th career save in a 1-2-3 inning on 11 pitches, something that he has done time and time again over the past two years and is easy to take for granted.
When he tallies the next one, Chapman
will become the ninth pitcher in MLB history to get to 400 saves. If he pitches two more seasons, he would likely move into the top five all-time, where Craig Kimbrel sits at 441. Incredibly, the only two pitchers who have gotten to 500 saves are also both over 600 saves (Rivera 652, Hoffman 601).
Chapman now has 32 saves in each of his two seasons in Boston, with only two blown saves in each all-star season. Over 2025-2026 combined, Chapman has a 1.57 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, and just a 2.9 BB/9 (after walking 6 batters per nine in the four prior seasons combined).
Chapman recently had his 2027 option vest with the Red Sox, for $13 million, provided that he passes his year-end physical heading into his 39-year-old season. He’ll soon move into the top ten in career Red Sox saves.
The only real glaring omission from this list is Keith Foulke, who tallied 47 saves in Boston, but also had three fairly important saves in the 2004 postseason. Foulke, Papelbon, Uehara, and Kimbrel all had World Series rings with the team. Bob Stanley just missed. Those who saw Dick Radatz pitch probably would have something to say about his case too.
Where would you place Chapman on the all-time Red Sox closer list today? If he has another dominant season (or two) with the team, how high could he rise on that list? Discuss in the comments, and be good to each other.
