Alex Bregman shares advice for Red Sox during playoff push

Red Sox

“You could start swinging harder, trying to do more … Sometimes less is more.”

The Red Sox are headed into the last 13 games of the regular season with more to play for than they have in recent years.

At 81-68, Boston is holding onto the American League’s second wildcard spot, but has more work to do before clinching a postseason berth. Because of that, manager Alex Cora is preaching his team — and the media — to pump the brakes on all the talk about October before the Red Sox actually make it there.

Heading into the final 13 games of the year, Boston newcomer but MLB veteran Alex Bregman shared some words of wisdom for the younger Red Sox. Bregman has only missed the playoffs twice in his MLB career, while many of his current teammates haven’t seen the postseason yet.

“Obviously, you can start swinging harder, trying to do more. You can start trying to throw harder and miss over the middle of the plate,” Bregman told reporters when asked what advice he’s giving to his teammates. “Just slow it down, execute, sometimes less is more. I feel like that’s something that we need to do a little bit better job of.

The Red Sox were one of the best teams in baseball during the middle of the season, but have been stumbling over the last few weeks. They’re 4-6 in their last 10 games and on the verge of getting swept in their weekend series against the Yankees if they can’t find a win at Fenway on Sunday.

Bregman seemed to suggest that Boston is trying too hard to do the right things, rather than letting the game come the way it had when the Red Sox dominated the summer months of the year.

“Over the last two days we’ve been a little amped up, obviously we’re excited we got a packed house here at Fenway,” Bregman said. “I think sometimes less is more. Just try to simplify.”

As for Bregman, he hit his first home run since Aug. 12 in Saturday’s 5-3 loss. The star infielder has been in a bit of a slump, but is still batting .279 on the season. He’s also third on the team in home runs and fourth in hits, despite playing only 103 games.

Bregman will remain among Boston’s most important pieces not only in October, but also in finishing strong enough to play in the postseason.

“I’m just focused on tomorrow. Trying to win the baseball game tomorrow, that’s it,” Bregman said. “There’s a lot of baseball left to be played obviously, and we just got to get back to executing.”