Boston Red Sox vs Brewers Series Review

A Blog By Dean

Hey there,

If you have read my Red Sox series reviews in the past, you will already notice that this has a very different format. I typically like to keep it simple and just say what I loved, what I am mid about, and what I didn’t love.

This is not one of those blogs.

I had one of those blogs ready to go, and I deleted it all. Because what is happening to this beautiful team right now is horrendous. Yes, the players need to play better. I always find it frustrating watching a sport and seeing the manager take all the heat when the players are just frankly not that good. However, that is not the case with this Boston Red Sox squad, they are actually being mismanaged. And if it wasn’t for their manager being the second-highest-paid skipper in all of baseball, I think we would have seen a change.

Cora inherited a team primarily assembled by Dave Dombrowski—a team that secured 93 wins just the year before Cora took over. While Cora did steer that roster to a World Series championship in 2018, his recent track record is hardly exemplary. Let’s take a look.

2025: 27-30

2024: 81-81

2023: 78-84

2022: 78-84

2021: 92-70 (Was not manager in 20’, could argue he inherited another good team.)

2020: 60-24 (Again, Cora was not manager here.)

2019: 84-78 (Significant drop off from 2018.)

2018: 108-54 (was handed an amazing team.)

Let’s take a look at another manager who won a World Series in his first season, John Farrell.

2017: 93-69

2016: 93-69

2015: 78-84

2014: 71-91

2013: 97-65 (won World Series)

Farrell was fired by Dombrowski, who said no level of team success would have prevented that. Seemingly, poor in-game decisions and atmosphere issues in the clubhouse. To me, Cora is having the same issues right now.

Let me add that I am not advocating for Cora to lose his job, I am advocating for him to make changes. He has, for years now, been tinkering too much with young players. We see it now with Kristian Campbell, who, for some unknown reason, Cora is moving to 1 B.

We saw it with Ceddanne Rafaela, who Cora kept moving around the field.

We saw it with Masataka Yoshida, who, whenever he got hot, Cora pulled him from the lineup for “matchups.”

We saw it with Triston Casas. Cora allowed him to leave rehab and go to the All-Star Game to be a TikTok influencer.

We see it with Connor Wong, a catcher, who Cora uses like a utility player.

We see it on the pitching side with Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock, who were great relievers that Cora and the Front Office stretched out into starters, which has broken both of them down.

Most of all, we see it in how he has dealt with Rafael Devers this season. The disrespect that has been shown to the team’s franchise player is abhorrent.

Some fans want to point the finger at Craig Breslow, but I am smarter than that. I watched the Netflix documentary, and I know who is running the show in Boston. It is Alex Cora.

His in-game decisions this season have turned his greatest fans against him. For me, I think it comes down to him not being hard enough. Cora seems to be falling into the trap of being the boss who is friends with everybody.

Sometimes you need to be a D***.

With Love,

Dean Ciriaco

I will put my thoughts on Cora from 2023 below.

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