Alex Cora’s Comments From Two Months Ago Ring Eerily True

On May 25, the Boston Red Sox were 27-28, 6 1/2 games out of the American League East.

Alex Bregman had just gone down with an injury, and the Red Sox completed a ten-game homestand at 5-5. At that point in the season, they were 4-12 in one-run games.

After the final game of the homestand, a 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Alex Cora addressed the media about the close losses and where the team stood.

“You guys know how I feel about 10-game win streaks. We haven’t done that in a while here,” Cora said. “Hopefully, when we get our streak, we can get to eight games over .500 and then take off.”

The Red Sox’s 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday was their tenth straight win. The win took them to exactly eight games over .500. Predicting the future in baseball is difficult, but Cora might have done it.

For Red Sox fans, the last three words of the quote are the most important, though. The winning streak has vaulted the Red Sox into the second American League Wild Card spot, just one game behind the New York Yankees for the top spot. There’s still roughly one-third of the season remaining, though.

It’s the first 10-game winning streak for Boston since 2018. That streak also began with a sweep of the Washington Nationals, beginning on July 4. The 2018 Red Sox went on to win the World Series.

If Cora is correct, and the Red Sox “take off”, they’ll have another chance to go on a run and compete for a title.