Cubs World Series Hero Joins NL Central Rival
A member of the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs will make his return to Wrigley Field with an NL Central rival next season.
Aroldis Chapman, who played last season with both the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers, agreed to a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, per multiple reports.
Chapman was with the Cubs for half a season, but it was a memorable one. With a potential world title in their sights, the Cubs sent Gleyber Torres, Billy McKinney, Adam Warren, and Rashad Crawford to the New York Yankees to get Chapman for their playoff push.
In the regular season with Chicago, he went 1-1 with a 1.01 ERA in 28 games with 16 saves. He struck out 15.5 hitters every nine innings.
In the postseason he converted three saves in four opportunities in the NL Division Series to tie and set new Division Series records, respectively.
While he did blow a save in the first game of the NL Championship Series, he bounced back to make four appearances and throw the final 1 2.3 innings of relief in Game 6 to clinch a trip to the World Series.
Chapman came up big in the World Series as the Cubs faced elimination in Game 5, as he threw three innings to preserve that win. In Game 6 he pitched two innings to preserve a 9-3 win. Then, in Game 7, while he blew the save opportunity, He got the game to extra innings by getting the Cubs out of the ninth inning tied. The Cubs later won the game.
With the Rangers he went 2-3 with a 3.72 ERA in 20 appearances with four saves in 29 innings. He struck out 50 and walked 16.
In the postseason he made nine appearances, throwing eight innings while striking out six and walking five. He won his second World Series ring with the Rangers.
