Alex Cora's Red Sox Tenure Ends, Leaving Behind A Complex Boston Legacy

[Ben Lofy]

How does one grade 620 wins, eight years, three postseason appearances, and one World Series? The Alex Cora era in Boston is over, and with it, the end of a tumultuous tenure. 

In 2018, Cora stepped into the managerial role left vacant by John Farrell, who was fired after five seasons with the club. Cora was the bench coach of the Houston Astros for two seasons, winning a World Series with the club in 2017. During the ALCS in the same year, Cora interviewed for the open position in Boston, and was announced as the franchise’s newest manager in late October. He was initially signed to a three-year deal from 2018 to 2020, with an option for 2021. 

It was a storybook first season for the new manager. He was supported by a star-studded roster featuring Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and Chris Sale. The Red Sox were dominant, finishing with a league-best 108 wins and cruising through the playoffs. They dispatched the New York Yankees and Houston Astros with ease in four and five games, respectively. 

Facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Cora became just the fifth rookie manager to win the championship as the Red Sox won their fourth ring of the 21st century. The triumphant season led to a one-year contract extension as Cora seemed well-suited to serve as the Red Sox's manager of the future. He was beloved by his players, communicating with them in both English and Spanish, often seen sitting atop the dugout steps chatting with his coaching staff.

Despite that early success and his positive relationships with his players, his scandal rocked the Red Sox. In November 2019, Cora was accused of playing a major role in the Astros' sign stealing affair. Cora was spared punishment for the time being so a separate investigation into the 2018 Red Sox could take place.

In January 2020, a report published by The Athletic accused Cora and the Red Sox of using a replay room during the regular season in order to steal opposing catcher's signs. After the scandal came to light, Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to part ways. It was a dramatic turnaround for Cora, falling from the peak of the baseball world to the depths in just over a year's time. 

In April, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred issued a suspension through the 2020 playoffs for Cora, based solely on his role in the Astros scandal. Manfred didn’t impose any punishment in relation to the Red Sox replay scandal because the investigation didn’t conclude that Cora was aware of its occurrence. Manfred did, however, note that Cora didn’t “effectively communicate to Red Sox players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season.”

Cora was welcomed back to Fenway with open arms following the 2020 season. He signed to a two-year contract with a club option for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

The following season, Cora led the club to its first playoff berth since the 2018 championship season. The Red Sox qualified as a wild card, facing the Yankees in a one-game series. After beating New York in a game for the ages, Boston beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS to advance to the league championship series.

The storybook run would end here, as the Red Sox fell in six games. Following the playoffs, it was announced that the Red Sox exercised their option to extend Cora’s contract through the 2024 season. 

Boston struggled through the 2022 and 2023 seasons, finishing with 78 wins in each and placing fifth out of five teams in the American League East. Despite the unsavory results from those years, players backed up his leadership at every turn. 

From 2018 on, the roster was stripped from its peak. With the front office trading away Mookie Betts and letting Xander Bogaerts walk in free agency, many felt like Cora wasn’t given competitive rosters. He emphasized the importance of a consistent offensive approach throughout his tenure, though he wasn’t always supplied with offense-focused rosters.

Following the 2023 season, the Red Sox hired Craig Breslow to be the newest Chief Baseball Officer. The 2024 season showed signs of improvement, the Sox finished third in the East but ended the season 81-81. 

Following a rocky start to the 2025 season, Breslow made a blockbuster trade, sending Rafael Devers to San Francisco for a slew of prospects. Despite having a close relationship with Devers, Cora backed up the trade, at least publicly aligning with a front office that had inherited his services.

The Red Sox made the playoffs for the third time in Cora’s eight-year tenure, but lost to the Yankees in a three-game wild card series. 

While Cora’s commitment to the Red Sox never faltered, it seemed as if Boston’s front office had other ideas. Just four weeks into the 2026 season, Cora and many key members of his staff were fired in a stunning front office shakeup after disappointing early results. In a press conference the morning after the firing, Red Sox President Sam Kennedy made it clear that there was no ill-will towards Cora.

“AC's impact on Boston and our city will be felt forever. The memories that we all shared from 2018 are gonna last a lifetime."

Cora leaves behind a mixed legacy and one that is tainted by questionable decisions from the Red Sox ownership group. He led the club to its most dominant championship and is the third-winningest manager in franchise history, but he also dealt with embarrassment and never-ending frustration from the fanbase.

Cora leaves behind a complex legacy, but his leadership during the 2018 championship season set a standard that will define Red Sox baseball until the team's next title.

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[TedYazPapiMookie]

Can't disagree more about Cora's impact on Boston.  He inherited an all-star team from Dombrowski that jumped from last place to first place on John Farrell.  Then Dombrowski added JD Martinez to fill the gap created when Papi retired and because we had a bunch of whiny Latin Players on the team the biggest being Devers, Farrell got fired for being too disciplined and not speaking enough Spanish for the vocal Latin players on the team.  Enter Cora the completely inexperienced Bench Coach from Houston, who was a bad player with a reputation for poor work ethic whose biggest skill is the gift of garbled gab making him a darling of the media.  Manage a team?  He stunk from day one.  In early 2018 he benched his superstars on specific calendar days because he said that's what Hinch did!!  Did he take into account rain outs?  Nope.  He stated in an early post-game interview after benching Mookie that it was his turn to sit.  When the follow-up question asked why the star player would sit during the 3rd week of the season when there had been a rain and an open day in the schedule that week he once again attributed it Hinch and what he did not considering the ACTUAL FATIGUE of the player.  I knew from that day forward Boston was going to struggle to win with a completely inexperienced manager.  That goodness DD gave him an all-star team.  The team should have won 120 games that season but between his Hinchisms and his inability to manage a bullpen, he cost the team at least a dozen games especially when you consider the games he played with Sale that cost him the Cy Young award.  This guy has been a total tool since he arrived, and he got to stay nearly 8 years longer than he should have.

If you consider his propensity for cheating, when he was fired the first time he should have been banned from baseball, but the Commissioner is as big a tool as he is.  No there is no sadness for his way overdue firing.  REAL Red Sox fans have recognized him as a tool for years.  The 2019 spring training debacle.  The overuse of mediocre players to keep the bench happy and supportive of him while the team lost games so he could maintain his popularity.  He backstabbed all his GMs and work hard to build direct relationships with people like Henry to keep his job.  This guy was a total disaster and lacked morals, integrity and a sense of fairness.  He used favoritism to build his daily line-ups not meritocracy.  He had no idea how to get the best performances out of his team, just the players he liked.  The turn reverse discrimination fit him to a tee!!!  That explains why his teams couldn't win.  If not for the 2018 roster gift DD gave him, his career coaching record would have been .  His totals were 620-541 but if you eliminate 2018 it was 512-487 for a .513 winning percentage which explains why we missed the playoffs so often and never won ANYTHING after 2018.  He's a below league average manager considering the skills he had most of his time in Boston.  DD left him with a championship team, Bloom systematically dismantled the talent and then Breslow bumped it back up and he still couldn't win with it.  He's a loser in all senses of the word.

We can't put Cora in the rearview mirror fast enough.  He was worse for Boston than an overpaid 3B we put in the rearview mirror in 2025!!  Real baseball fans know how atrocious a manager he was, the media lies about him like most things because they want future interviews with him.  The false comments suggesting he was great are part of the media process, they are absent of sincerity and accuracy.  If people want to spin it that he was anything other than awful as a manager, they are lying.  Good riddance to a guy who hurt the organization for nearly a decade with his lack of integrity and skills.