Yankees' biggest nemesis? He's pulling the strings for the Red Sox. Gabe Lacques, USA TODAYOctober 1, 2025 at 7:03 AM 0 NEW YORK – The Bronx still has a Boston Red Sox problem. And it is not going away, at least so long as Alex Cora presides over Boston's dugout.
- - Yankees' biggest nemesis? He's pulling the strings for the Red Sox.
Gabe Lacques, USA TODAYOctober 1, 2025 at 7:03 AM
0
NEW YORK – The Bronx still has a Boston Red Sox problem. And it is not going away, at least so long as Alex Cora presides over Boston's dugout.
Sure, it's been two decades since the Red Sox completed the greatest playoff comeback in baseball history – or perhaps the New York Yankees staged the biggest collapse? – which is time enough for reunions, documentaries and enough chatter that it still seems like yesterday.
But forget the Idiots. This is about Cora and his managerial counterpart, Aaron Boone, and three playoff meetings over eight years that have all gone decisively in Boston's favor.
In Game 1 of the American League wild-card series Sept. 30, Cora and Boone tried to solve the same problem: A dominant lefty on the other mound.
They loaded their lineup with right-handed hitters. Prepared to stretch their aces, Garrett Crochet and Max Fried, maybe a little bit longer than they were comfortable, while calling on only their best relievers.
All textbook stuff for Playoff Baseball, 21st-century style.
Yet once again, it all worked out for Cora in the end – while Boone was left pondering the what-ifs and whys and suddenly, staring elimination for his 94-win team in the face.
Alex Cora had Garrett Crochet set a career high with 117 pitches in Game 1.
The Yankees won five more games than the Red Sox this season, giving them the right to host this series. Yet postseason baseball is Cora Time, and he got the better of Boone as the Red Sox rallied in the seventh inning and held on for a 3-1 victory and a stunning spot in the driver's seat of this best-of-three sprint.
See, nobody's come back from a 1-0 deficit to win any of the 12 wild-card series in the three seasons of this format. Ostensibly, the Yankees have a slight edge in Game 2 with Carlos Rodón facing Brayan Bello at home.
But they also need to make up the stagger in the dugout, where Cora is cementing his reputation as one of the greatest to ever do it.
Make no mistake: Crochet played a far greater role than anybody pushing the buttons. In his first playoff start, the 6-7 sidewinding lefty threw a career-high 117 pitches, glancing back at the scoreboard to confirm that he still had 100-mph heat when he blew away Austin Wells with his final pitch in the eighth inning.
"He's the best pitcher in the game," Yankees slugger Aaron Judge acknowledged, a mildly debatable but wholly acceptable point regarding a guy who struck a major league-high 255 and retired 16 straight Yankees after Anthony Volpe's second-inning homer.
So good for Crochet, who followed Cora-era aces like Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi in establishing Boston's postseason beachhead.
Yet let's consider what Cora's done, and what he did in Game 1.
The man is now 18-8 as a postseason manager, thanks largely to the 2018 club's 11-3 run to a World Series title.
And against the Yankees?
It's now 5-1 over three postseasons, beginning in '18 when Cora and Boone were both rookie managers and the Red Sox – with a clearly superior team – made quick work of New York in the ALDS.
Yet the 2021 wild-card game matched Eovaldi against Yankee ace Gerrit Cole – and the Red Sox rolled, all the way to a six-game ALCS loss to an eventual champion Houston Astros team.
Now fast-forward to Game 1, 2025 and consider the outcomes both skippers produced.
Crochet's presence forced 30-30 man Jazz Chisholm and first baseman/catcher Ben Rice – lefty swingers and among the Yankees' hottest hitters – to the bench.
Cora was determined to keep them there.
He pushed Crochet to the brink – and handed the ball directly to left-handed closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. While Chapman had to survive a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the ninth, Cora's aggression served its purpose.
Yeah, he skipped over dominant set-up man Garrett Whitlock. But guess what? Chisholm and Rice never moved, at least until Chisholm's left-on-left pinch hit appearance against Chapman. And the Yankees managed just seven hits – one for extra bases – and one run.
"Rice was there. It is not that I don't trust Whitlock against him, but I trust Chappy against the righties," says Cora in explaining his desire to avoid the second-year slugger who posted an .836 OPS and ripped 26 homers, including two in the regular season finale.
"That's something we talked about in preparation before the game: Hey, our lefties are really good, (Justin) Wilson and Chapman and (Steven) Matz. If there's a chance we can keep the righties in the lineup and take our chances, we are going to do it."
Tigers pitcher Will Vest reacts after recording the final out in Game 1.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/XNWf8d2 class=caas-img data-headline="Must-see action and passion from MLB playoffs' 2025 Wild Card Series" data-caption="
Tigers pitcher Will Vest reacts after recording the final out in Game 1.
">Tigers pitcher Will Vest reacts after recording the final out in Game 1.
" src=https://ift.tt/XNWf8d2 class=caas-img>
1 / 21Must-see action and passion from MLB playoffs' 2025 Wild Card SeriesTommy Edman is showered with sunflower seeds after hitting a home run during the third inning against the Reds in Game 1.Could Max Fried have gone deeper?
Now consider that the Yankees' season might have died not with Fried or closer David Bednar on the mound but rather Luke Weaver, a savior for the Yankees last year, less reliable this season.
Cora faced the same lineup problem Boone did: Lefty sluggers Masataka Yoshida and Nathaniel Lowe and Wilyer Abreu were reduced to spectators, and the Red Sox, with no menacing Judge or Giancarlo Stanton on their roster, employed a slap-happy lineup that Fried largely had his way with.
Nate Eaton (one home run), Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez (nine homers each), Carlos Narváez (15) and Jarren Duran and Ceddane Rafaela (16 each) created soft pockets throughout the Red Sox lineup once it got past Nos. 2-3 hitters Alex Bregman and Trevor Story.
Yet Boone invited them back in – and Boston pounced.
Protecting a 1-0 lead, Boone decided to yank Fried at 102 pitches with one out in the seventh, a pragmatic modern baseball move, the kind the Yankees pay Boone to execute. Fried's 24-pitch fourth and 20-pitch sixth – capped by a double play – suggested his gas tank was emptying.
"I came in the dugout and Boonie looked at me and said, 'How you feeling?' I said good," Fried said of the sixth inning aftermath, looking ahead to the seventh. "He said, 'You got enough for Duran?' And I said yeah, whatever you need.
"I've been plenty clear with him throughout the year of whatever they need me to do, I'm willing."
Said Boone of the sequence: "Let's go get one more hitter. And be good."
Instead, it all unraveled.
Weaver could not finish off Rafaela, who worked an 11-pitch plate appearance and drew a one-out walk. Sogard then poked a ball into the gap in right center field and exploited Judge's compromised throwing arm for a hustle double.
Suddenly, the Red Sox had the tying and winning runs in scoring position. And Cora, with Weaver forced by the three-batter minimum to face one more guy, finally had the platoon advantage.
Yoshida is a holdover from the previous Red Sox regime, signed to a $90 million contract yet addled by both injury and lackluster performance, until a moderate resurgence this season. This was his moment, and he capitalized, whacking a Weaver fastball up in the zone into center field to send the tying and go-ahead runs giddily home.
Suddenly, 1-0 Yankees – both on the scoreboard and presumably in the series – flipped resoundingly in Boston's favor. And in yet another insult to modern baseball orthodoxy, Cora sent Crochet and his 100 pitches back out for the eighth.
"I wanted to honor that decision," says Crochet. "I felt like he's put a lot of faith in me this year, and I haven't let him down yet.
"So, I was going to be damn sure this wasn't the first time."
It was not. He sandwiched strikeouts of Trent Grisham – Grisham's fourth of the night – and Wells around a Volpe single and handed the ball to Chapman. Four outs – and three Yankee singles in the ninth – later, the Red Sox white-knuckled their way to victory.
And the Yankees were left to try and buck history.
Rice and Chisholm should be back for Game 2. But Bello has pitched well in Yankee Stadium with a 1.44 ERA in five career starts. The Red Sox have the for-now overwhelming wild-card series history on their side.
Along with what seems to be a growing advantage in the dugout.
"I think he is also a tremendous leader and they kind of take on his personality, and I think they play hard for him," Boone said of Cora before Game 1.
"That's a tribute to who he is and how he runs things."
And so far, Cora's running the Yankees into another early winter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Yankees have a Red Sox problem as long as Boston has Alex Cora
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: VoXi MAG
Read More >> Full Article on Source: VoXi MAG
#US #ShowBiz #Sports #Politics #Celebs