Alex Cora Compares Reeling Red Sox To Resilient 2021 Team
Boston Red Sox fans have seen this movie before. They’ve endured numerous late-season collapses over the years, from 1949 to 1978 to 2011, and now another one seems to be unfolding before their eyes.
The Red Sox have struggled since losing Roman Anthony to the injured list earlier this month, going 5-8 without him. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians have caught fire, winning 12 of their last 13 games.
As a result, the hard-charging Guardians have nearly wiped out Boston’s lead for the third Wild Card spot. Cleveland now trails by just 1.5 games (one game in the loss column) with a week and a half to go.
Despite the dwindling lead, Alex Cora isn’t panicking. After Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the Athletics, he reminded reporters about the 2021 Red Sox, who narrowly avoided a similar collapse and recovered to make the playoffs.
“I think in 2021, we went behind, right? And we came back, so it’s nothing new,” Cora said.
After losing five of six to close out September that year, Boston bounced back to sweep the Washington Nationals on the final weekend of the regular season and clinch a Wild Card berth.
While Cora remembers 2021, many of his players don’t. Most of them weren’t on the team then, and this is the first playoff race for many of them.
There’s almost nobody left from the 2021 team, which was full of veterans and holdovers from the 2018 championship squad. They kept their cool during crunch time and knew how to win big games.
Furthermore, the 2021 squad had a much easier schedule down the stretch, closing out the season against two of the worst teams in baseball (Baltimore and Washington). The 2025 Red Sox have no such luck, as they end their season against two first-place teams (Toronto and Detroit) next week.
Boston still controls its own destiny, but it doesn’t have much breathing room. If the Red Sox want to make the playoffs, they need to start playing like they did for most of the summer and beat some really good teams to get there.