Red Sox’s Alex Cora Not Fazed By Recent Late-Season Trend

BOSTON -- Red Sox manager Alex Cora is confident that the final stretch of 2023 will unfold differently than the last two months have in recent years.

Around this time last season, the Red Sox were counting their days. Boston played sub-.500 baseball from July to September, finishing dead last in the American League East. Granted, some factors came into play, which Cora noted, but it's become an ongoing trend that has both stood out and anchored the Red Sox, ever since 2019.

"Well, we're healthier," Cora said before Friday night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. "In '19 we were banged up, in '21 we had COVID and last year we were banged up. I know other people have other theories, whatever, but I think if you're healthy, you can play well. If you're not, you're not. In '19 we lost everybody. Last year we lost four guys in our rotation. It's hard to play that way in the big leagues."

Cora added: "We're ready to play."

It's easy to highlight the trend without any context involved, but also lazy.

Boston is fresh off a Major League Baseball-best 15-8 month of July, flipping the page amid a season that's provided plenty of forms of adversity. To Cora's credit especially, the Red Sox have kept the season interesting while also keeping sights of October within reach.

Yes, the final two months -- on paper -- haven't been anything to write home about in past seasons. In 2019, Boston finished August and September with a 25-28 combined record. In 2021, fresh off the COVID-19 pandemic, they finished at 26-27, and in 2022 at 24-30 -- not ideal.

However, the circumstances are different with the Red Sox entering a crucial weekend series with the Blue Jays. Boston is a three-game sweep shy of ripping Toronto's AL wild-card spot from its hands plus the Red Sox have the upcoming in-house additions of Chris Sale, Trevor Story, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock to look forward to.

"Here, we're healthy, we're healthy. And we've been playing good against the division -- something people didn't bought coming into the season," Cora explained. "We're doing that better. So, we got our guys right here. This got a good baseball team. Let's go out there and play, and see where it takes us."