Ex-Yankees All-Star Continues Surprisingly Dominant Season With Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees rivalry is starting to heat back up.

We have Red Sox players dissing the Yankees organization in interviews and Yankees players responding with home runs. We have Red Sox rookies smiling in the face of Yankee Stadium boos. And of course, we have a couple of notable jersey swaps, following in the tradition of players like Babe Ruth, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon, and Jacoby Ellsbury, each of whom played for both the Red Sox and Yankees in their careers.

Boston has the upper hand at the moment in that regard, with ex-Yankees Carlos Narváez and Aroldis Chapman figuring into the team's blueprint in 2025. 

Narvaez went 2-for-4 in Sunday’s rubber-game win for Boston with a clutch home run (No. 6 on the year) and three RBI.

Boston’s 26-year-old starting catcher is now slashing .282/ .361/ .459 in his rookie season (191 plate appearances).

Amazingly, the Red Sox acquired Narváez from the Yankees on the same day that Boston snagged Garrett Crotchet.

Then there’s the former Yankee Chapman, who picked up save No. 11 on Sunday, continuing his outstanding age-37 season. The flamethrower now has a sparkling 1.71 ERA in 26 1/3 innings pitched to go along with a 0.91 WHIP and 35 K/9 BB ratio.

Chapman has a .160 batting average against this season.

Chapman won American League Reliever of the Year in 2019 while wearing pinstripes. It’s odd to see him closing games inside Yankee Stadium while wearing a Red Sox uniform, but it’s something that Boston fans would be happy to get used to.

With the Red Sox struggling throughout May, suitors began circling with Chapman on the mind. If Boston was interested in moving him before July 31, it could get a significant return based on how dominant Chapman’s looked at times this year. 

But the weekend series win over New York might signal a turning of the page for Boston amid what has been an arduous and unsuccessful first phase of the season. 

With 95 games remaining, the Red Sox are hoping to chip away at the Yankees’ 8.5-game lead in the division, keeping Chapman in tow all the while to help secure the close victories that have eluded the club so far.