Phillies: Five Yankees they’ll hate facing if the divisions merge
By David Esser
Aroldis Chapman
Phillies fans should already be pretty familiar with closer Aroldis Chapman and his work, considering he made his playoff debut against Philadelphia way back in 2010. After exploding onto the scene as a 22 year old rookie during the regular season, Chapman came on and pitched 1.2 innings against the Phils during the NLDS.
Despite routinely hitting triple digits on the radar gun, Chapman allowed three runs and was handed a loss.
Philadelphia Phillies
It’s been quite a long time since Chapman lost that game back in 2010, and he’s only gotten better as the years have gone on. Across ten full seasons in the MLB, Chapman has been selected to six All-Star games, recorded 273 saves, struck out 883 batters, and won a World Series.
He’s regularly been regarded as one of the best (if not the best) closer in all of baseball for the majority of the past decade.
Chapman returned to the Yankees following his World Series victory with the Cubs in 2016 and has been the team’s primary closing pitcher since. He’s finished 138 games and recorded an ERA of 2.61 during that three-year span.
If the Phillies are finding themselves consistently heading into close games by the ninth inning with the Yankees, having to stare down 6’ 4” Chapman on the mound doesn’t necessarily seem too ideal.
Especially considering the Phillies current closer is projected to be that of Hector Neris, it seems unlikely that a lot of close games against New York would swing Philly’s way.