Alex Cora’s first year as the manager of the Boston Red Sox couldn’t have gone any better. But he knows he didn’t do it by himself.
Cora’s Sox won a franchise-best 108 games en route to beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games to capture the 2018 World Series championship. He and the Red Sox paraded around the streets of Boston celebrating the victory and a number of players took home awards.
Cora, in an interview with The Athletic’s Chad Jennings, said his mother told him he was a “good baseball player,” but would make “a better manager.” Though the words stuck with him throughout the season, it was during Game 1 of the World Series when Cora finally started to believe his mother.
(“But) I was thinking about it this year. I was like, damn, this is freaking nuts, you know?,” the skipper told Jennings. “I had a moment, honestly, when (Eduardo Nunez) hit the (pinch-hit) homer. I was like, ‘Holy s–t! What’s going on here?’”
Cora always gave credit where credit was due after games and always praised his players, never being the one to take credit for the wins. While he believes he’ll be successful regardless of where he is, Cora, once again, credits others for his success.
“I do believe that everything that is happening is because of the people around me and the organizations I’ve been in, and it’s a product of everything,” he said. “But at the same time, I do believe that where I’m at, we’re going to be successful. And not only because of me. It’s because of what we have around.”
