Aroldis Chapman: 2016 World Series Game 7 is a game I’ll never forget

TAMPA, Fla. — What Aroldis Chapman won’t soon forget is the noise.

As Rajai Davis’ screaming liner cleared the 19-foot wall in leftfield to tie Game 7 of last season’s World Series at 6-6 in the eighth inning — among the most shocking late-inning homers ever hit in the Fall Classic — Cleveland’s Progressive Field produced a decibel level rarely achieved in any venue in the city’s sporting history.

“You have all those fans, they’re screaming so loud, it feels like they’re on top of you,” Chapman said.

The closer, whom the Yankees traded to the Cubs last July and re-signed as a free agent during the offseason, laughed as he relived the moment during spring training during an interview in the Steinbrenner Field clubhouse.

“It feels like they’re about to swallow you,” Chapman said through his translator. “But that’s part of the game and you have to concentrate and get the job done.”

Because of the ensuing discussions about Chapman’s use (or overuse, according to many) in that series and the sheer magnitude of the seventh game, which resulted in a 10-inning victory that gave the Cubs their first World Series championship since 1908, the job Chapman did after Davis’ home run has been somewhat lost.

After getting out of the eighth, a clearly gassed Chapman shook off the greatest disappointment of his career and, using almost exclusively sliders, set down three of the Indians’ most dangerous hitters — Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor — in the bottom of the ninth, stalling the Indians’ momentum.

Before heading out for the ninth, Chapman — who threw 42 pitches in 2 2⁄3 innings in Game 5 and 20 pitches in 1 1⁄3 innings in Game 6 before throwing 35 pitches in 1 1⁄3 innings in Game 7 — pulled catcher Miguel Montero aside.

“I told him, ‘We have to change it up a little bit because I’m a little tired. We can’t do it based on fastballs and power. We have to be a little more trickier,’ ’’ said Chapman, who threw 14 pitches in the ninth, 10 of them sliders. “Definitely that day, the slider was breaking very nicely and I was able to use that to get out of that inning as quickly as possible.”

Though worn out, Chapman said he went to the mound in the ninth confident, even without his usual 100-mph-plus fastball.

“Before I go into any game, mentally I tell myself that I’m better than the hitter I’m about to face,” he said. “It’s what I do to give me the confidence and strength to go and do my job. That’s the way I look at it, that’s the way I prepare myself to face big-league hitters, because you need that edge. You’re facing the best of the best.”

Chapman said he’s watched a replay of the homer by Davis, who has hit all of 55 in his career, several times since.

“I don’t think it was a bad pitch at all,” Chapman said of the 97.1-mph fastball, which followed a 99.6-mph heater that Davis, his hands choked way up on the bat, fouled off. “It was low, it was inside, but he was able to connect. He gets all the credit there.”

After the game, Chapman openly discussed his disappointment and even the tears he shed in the dugout. But after a brief rain delay, a two-run 10th made Chapman the winning pitcher.

Five months later, it’s clear how Chapman remembers last Nov. 2.

“That’s a very good night for me,” he said with a smile. “They tied the game but we won the game, and we won the World Series. It’s still unbelievable.”