Was Alex Cora's World Series Win in His Managerial Debut a Fluke?

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Alex Cora is proving himself to be a .500 manager, and that his World Series win in his managerial debut was a fluke. 

Cora replaced John Farrell, who in 2017 won 93 games with the Red Sox, good for a first-place finish in the AL East. Farrell's Red Sox lost the ALDS to the Houston Astros, where Cora was serving as bench coach at the time.

The following season, 2018, Cora replaced Farrell in Boston. In his managerial debut, Cora won 108 regular-season games and a World Series and became the talk of the town.

During his five years as manager in Boston, Farrell had a 432-378 record and a .533 winning percentage. He had three first-place finishes, two last-place finishes, and one World Series win. His final two seasons, he had identical 93-69 records (.574) but lost two ALDS back-to-back before he was run out of Beantown in favor of Cora.

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In 2019, Cora finished third in the AL East, winning 84 games. Then, an investigation into the Astros' 2017 sign-stealing scandal found that Cora, an Astros bench coach at the time, was involved in the cheating, and MLB suspended him for the entire 2020 season. The team John Farrell lost to in the division series in 2017 had been cheating, and one of the accused cheaters, Alex Cora, had displaced him as Red Sox manager. Farrell never managed another team in MLB.

After learning of Cora's suspension, the Red Sox named Cora's bench coach, Ron Roenicke, interim manager in the Covid-shortened season. He finished 24-36, last in the AL East. Despite Cora's suspension for cheating, the Red Sox weren't interested in replacing him. Instead, they held his spot.

In 2021, Cora won 92 games, good enough for second place in the AL East. He followed that up with two identical last-place finishes (78-84), and last season, 2024, he finished .500 with 81 wins.

If you add in his current 2025 record of 23-25, in the 6+ years he's been the skipper of the Red Sox, he's a very respectable 544-476 with a .533 winning percentage, same as Farrell's.

But if you want to know what Cora's done for the Red Sox lately, add the results of the last 3+ seasons, and he's a very pedestrian 260-274 with a .487 winning percentage. A sub-.500 manager in a demanding baseball town whose diehard fans want their team to go deep in the playoffs and potentially win another World Series. Winning 81 games won't cut it in Boston.

As a manager, Cora isn't credited with winning many games through managerial brilliance, but he's credited with losing quite a few due to his inability to manage his starting pitchers and his bullpen. He leaves some pitchers in too long and pulls others too quickly. Managing a pitching staff is not one of his superpowers. His superpower was working with young players, but recently, some of his young players have failed miserably. Triston Casas, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Brayan Bello come to mind…

Cora's pitching staff consistently walks too many batters, a lot leading off innings. His hitters strike out at an alarming rate, failing to move runners up, and in 2025, his record in one-run games is a dismal 5-12. The better teams win at home. The Red Sox, who once enjoyed a home-field advantage at friendly Fenway, have watched that diminish in recent years. In 2025, they're 12-11 at home, which is better than it has been over the last few seasons.

There's no discipline, and you could blame the pitching and hitting coaches, but the team's philosophy derives from the manager, and clearly, Cora has been unable to stop the self-defeating trends.

There has been much talk about the Red Sox making a managerial change if Cora has another sub-500 season. Still, despite falling short of expectations over the last three-plus seasons, Cora has proven himself to be a survivor.

He inked a new contract in July of '24, just months before his existing contract was set to expire. He secured a three-year deal that will pay him just above seven million a year through 2027.

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Between injuries and disappointments (Trevor Story, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Triston Casas), some fans don't blame Cora, who still maintains a loyal following. He's very good at the mic post-game, smooth as silk and well-mannered, even after disappointing losses, and remains a likeable guy. John Henry and Craig Breslow have become easier targets.

It's still early in the 2025 season, and the Red Sox are only two games under .500 at 23-25, in second place, five games behind the AL East-leading Yankees. Devers is heating up. A few wins here and a couple of losses there, and everything can turn on a dime, and the Fenway faithful could once again be singing Sweet Caroline at the top of their lungs along with the praises of Alex Cora.

It all comes down to who will be counted out first, the Red Sox or Alex Cora. My guess is the two events will happen concurrently. In my opinion, Cora's World Series win in his managerial debut was a fluke…