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WLast night, against the New York Yankees (11-6), the Boston Red Sox won the East American with many games to play and are tied with a franchise record. With a record of 104-49, the Red Sox occupy the driver's seat in the race for the MLB's best record. In other words, it's a good year for the baseball club, which has done all this under the guidance of its new manager, Alex Cora.
The Yankees were favorites to win the division and for most of the year, both teams were neck and neck. The Red Sox, however, started fleeing with the division after injuring the Yankees' chances four times in early August. For the rest of the regular season, Boston's biggest competition could be herself. Prior to this season, the 1912 Red Sox set the team's record for most games won in a season with 105. With nine more games to play, it is likely that this year's team will win both victories. for Sox only had 156 games with which to work, instead of 162). The 104 victories of Cora also represent the second-highest total in MLB history for a rookie manager. The Yankees won 109 games in the first year of Ralph Houk as skipper in 1961, and it is not impossible that these Sox challenge him.
Given the results, it seems that the somewhat surprising decision of the Red Sox organization to move away from manager John Farrell at the end of last season has worked. At the time, Farrell's Red Sox teams won East Asia in their last two seasons and helped them win a championship in 2013. In the end, they thought Farrell, 56, was not the right for the 2018 club, which was built around young players such as Mookie Betts (25), Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts (25) and Rafael Devers (21).
It was therefore logical that the Red Sox were younger, engaging in talks with Cora, 42, and the coach of the Houston Astros. Despite her relative youth, Cora had gained a reputation for someone destined to be a manager in the major leagues. It was not bad either that Cora was a very appreciated player during his visit with the Red Sox. He was the team's main relief ship from 2005 to 2008, helping the team win a world series in 2007. Cora, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, became the first person in charge of the minority in the story of Red Sox. This is not an easy task, given the team's rather vague heritage regarding race problems.
All that Cora has done since then has been to position herself at the center of discussions on AL Manager of the Year, although he is the first to accept the mantra of his former mentor and current rival, Terry Francona: the key to success is to have the "good players" and those Red Sox are superb. Chris Sale is perhaps the best thrower in the AHL, and he's spinning with two former Cy Young winners, David Price and Rick Porcello. Betts, probably the precursor of MVP AL, is competing for a title with a .339 average. JD Martinez, the team's large free-agent acquisition, is behind him with .331 and leads the league with RBIs with 124. Cora has inherited one of the best queues in the lineup Red Sox, probably more talented than the club in 2013, most of the success of the team should probably go to the players.
In baseball, it's easy to explain managers with enthusiasm, but that does not mean they do not make a difference. There is no doubt that until now, Cora has proven to be the good leader for this particular group of players. Cora had the gift of making the right moves at the right time, especially when it comes to using pinches. He has also led his team to victories in countless games where his starting pitcher has failed to break through more than a few innings, a rather thankless task, as the most blatant weakness of the game. team was the lack of reliable relief throwers. More importantly, he showed impressive patience with his team, which is essential given the passion and demand of local fans.
Obviously, Cora had a successful first year, but that did not happen in ideal conditions. Over the past year, Cora had to deal with all these life-changing events as her home country, Puerto Rico, was trying to recover from unimaginable devastation. Cora, who was the general manager of the Puerto Rico baseball team before being hired by the Red Sox, took advantage of his new position to talk about the damage caused by Hurricane Maria last September. He also helped materially. Along with other members of the Red Sox organization and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Cora helped distribute aid on the island in January: Throughout the season, at the end of the season, I I felt unable to do enough to help my compatriots because of work. "
At the beginning of the month, Puerto Rico was back in the news, with the publication of a study that said the number of victims of Hurricane Maria was close to 3,000, far more than previous reports. Later tweets from President Trump claimed that the toll had been inflated for the sole purpose of making it bad. Immediately after the president's controversial statements and the outrage that followed, Cora expressed his anger and disappointment at the politicization of the tragedy.
"Being tweeted to about 3,000 people … it's actually a disrespect for my country," Cora told ESPN. "We see it like that. I know he probably does not feel like that … I hate to talk about politics and all that, but I think it's more than politics. a social critic but as a citizen and as a human being, and it was an admirable use of the platform that he holds.
Once again, of course, he can not give his full attention to the situation in Puerto Rico because the real work is about to begin. It's after all Boston, where the regular season is only a preparation for the playoffs. Winning the East AL is a feat, and creating a new franchise winning record would be even more important, but all of this is just a start.
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