Boston Red Sox
“I think he’s played ‘The Little Engine That Could’ over there a little bit.”
A day after the Red Sox clinched their first playoff berth since 2021, Alex Cora didn’t mince words about Boston’s up-and-down 2025 campaign.
“Let’s be honest, nobody thought we were going to make it to October,” Cora said at Fenway Park, per Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “Whoever said that, yeah, we’re a playoff team, that’s [expletive] bull-[expletive] to be honest with you. Nobody thought we were going to make it to October.
“It was New York; it was Baltimore; it was Toronto. We believed that we were going to play in October. We set our standards every single day and we hit our standards. Up and down, trades, injuries, we kept going. And you have to let them know because over 162 [games] to do that is not easy and they accomplished that.”
Don’t count Yankees manager Aaron Boone among those who were seemingly doubting Boston this year — especially after a busy offseason where the Red Sox added a sought-after ace in Garrett Crochet.
“I think a lot of people saw it coming, too,” Boone said Monday at Yankee Stadium. “Contrary to what [Cora said]. I think he’s played ‘The Little Engine That Could’ over there a little bit. I think a lot of people knew the Red Sox were coming this year.”
As noted by Abraham, Cora’s comments about Boston having few believers stands in contrast to multiple preseason predictions — as all six Globe writers had Boston advancing to the playoffs this season, while MLB.com and FanGraphs both tabbed the Red Sox as AL East division winners.
Speaking on Sunday to reporters including MassLive’s Chris Smith, Cora revised his initial statement about Boston’s playoff odds — noting that he believed people doubted his team’s postseason aspirations in June after the team traded away Rafael Devers.
Despite dealing away arguably their top slugger in that blockbuster deal, a 37-36 Red Sox squad went on to post a record of 52-37 for the remainder of the regular season en route to a playoff run.
Even with Cora’s initial lofty claim about the Red Sox’s postseason mettle, Boone doled out plenty of praise for Boston’s manager ahead of their latest playoff meeting. Since taking over as Red Sox manager, Cora has bested Boone and the Yankees twice in the 2018 ALDS and 2021 Wild-Card Game.
“I think he’s a really good leader,” Boone said of Cora. “I think his team embodies who he is. … Obviously, they’ve gone through a couple of tough years but he’s always been the clear leader of that group.
“You started to see it come together a little bit last year, I felt like. And now, obviously a little of an uneven start, they’ve really become a very good team and one of the best teams in the league here.”
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