New Alex Cora Hot Seat Rumors Amid Red Sox's Struggles to Start 2026 MLB Season
The Boston Red Sox reportedly aren't expected to move on from manager Alex Cora any time soon despite a rough start to the 2026 MLB season.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, it "seems unlikely" that the Red Sox will fire Cora during the early portion of the 2026 campaign.
At 9-14, the Red Sox are in last place in the American League East entering play on Wednesday, trailing the division-leading New York Yankees by five games.
The 50-year-old Cora is in the midst of his second stint as manager of the Red Sox, and his eighth season in that role overall.
Cora led the Red Sox to a World Series title in his first season at the helm in 2018, but the two sides parted ways following the 2019 season after Major League Baseball implicated him as part of the Houston Astros' sign-stealing controversy while he was the team's bench coach in 2017.
After serving a one-year suspension, Cora was rehired as manager of the Red Sox in November 2020, and he has remained in that role ever since.
Overall, Cora is 619-538 with three playoff appearances in eight seasons with the Red Sox.
After missing the playoffs in three consecutive seasons that saw the Red Sox finish with 78, 78 and 81 wins, the Red Sox finally returned to the postseason in 2025 with an 89-73 mark.
However, Boston's playoff return was short-lived, as it fell 2-1 to the rival Yankees in the American League Wild Card Series.
So far this season, the Red Sox have struggled on essentially all fronts, ranking 20th in MLB in batting average at .229, tied for 29th in home runs with 13 and 22nd in team ERA at 4.40.
In their first meeting with the Yankees this season, the Red Sox were shut out 4-0 at home on Tuesday, managing just four hits in the game.
Rosenthal noted that Cora is in the midst of the second season of a three-year, $21.75 million contract, which suggests the Red Sox may want to give him some runway to figure things out.
Given that Boston started 30-35 last season and still managed to make the playoffs, there is still hope for Cora to turn things around over the course of a long campaign.
