Red Sox’s Alex Cora Stressed This Point Amid Rough Dodger Series

The Red Sox didn't take care of business in their first series coming out of the MLB All-Star break. There's no other way to put it.

That said, a suboptimal weekend in Los Angeles won't dictate how the Boston front office handles its business for the rest of the month.

The Red Sox were sitting pretty when the regular season was paused, in control of an American League wild-card spot and only 4 1/2 games back of first place in the East. Three straight losses to the Dodgers disrupted the momentum, as Boston entered Monday 6 1/2 games behind the division-leading Baltimore Orioles and one game out of the wild-card picture.

Nonetheless, Alex Cora fully expects Craig Breslow and company to handle the trade deadline the same way it was going to before the club stumbled in Chavez Ravine.

"Nothing changes," Cora told reporters, per The Boston Globe. "We've been the best team in baseball for a month and a half. A walkoff (loss in 11 innings on Saturday), a homer (in the eighth inning to lose on Friday) against a team that everybody crowned in December as the World Series champs (doesn't change that)."

Cora's remarks strengthened the expectation that the Red Sox will look to add before July 30. Starting pitching and a right-handed bat remain Boston's biggest needs, but it hardly will be the only club looking to improve in those areas.

All told, the next week-plus across the big leagues will be very, very interesting.