Alex Cora -- like a lot of people -- most definitely wants to put the majority of 2020 in the rearview mirror.
For one, the Red Sox manager wasn't able to see one of the most important people in his life, his older brother, Joey.
That changes Sunday when the pair meet up at JetBlue Park when Cora's Red Sox meet up with the Pittsburgh, which boasts Joey as its third base coach.
"It actually hit me this morning, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen Joey in a while.’," Cora said. "We have a group text, a family group text. Always my mom at six in the morning, ‘God bless you guys, boom, boom, boom. I said, ‘Family reunion.’ She’s like, ‘We’re always here.’ I said, ‘Joey’s coming here.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, God, he is.’ It’s cool to see him. We’re going to catch up. Obviously with our masks, six feet apart because he’s in the other bubble, but it will be good to see him."
While this will be the first in-person face-to-face between the two, that doesn't mean Joey didn't have a huge impact on Alex throughout the past year.
During his morning media session Sunday, Alex explained in detail how important his brother was during the Sox' manager's absence from baseball last season.
"It’s amazing, he stuck with me last year, not surprisingly," Alex said. "Sometimes I thought about how people were going to treat him because of what I did and I dont know, he never opened up about it. Obviously with no fans it was different. But that was one of the things that bothered me throughout the whole thing that people will point at him because of what I did and that’s not fair. That wasn’t going to be fair and hopefully he doesnt have to hear stuff that’s not about him. We’re different guys. And what I did, I did, he didn’t. But it’s great. I still believe he’ll be a great manager, though i think he turned the page on that already, he’s older, they moved to Pittsburgh as a family. He’s having a good time over there. But to see him today is going to be great. I haven’t seen Joey since Jan. 7 last year so I’m looking forward to seeing him and catching up. Obviously we talk every day but to see him is going to be cool."
The Red Sox manager added regarding the brothers' relationship, "He’s everything for me, he’s my brother, he’s my best friend, he’s my dad. Probably he wasn’t proud. We never go into that how proud or not proud he is. But one thing for sure he was there the whole time throughout the process checking on me, he was very important. Joey has been amazing for all of us. Yeah my mom she’s the greatest, the way she handled the whole process last year was eye-opening, i learned a lot from her. But talking to my brother and the way he handled things like I said it wasn’t even a real season but I bet it wasn’t easy in a sense. But he really helped me out through this.
"When the whole process started, after the playoffs were over, we talked a lot about what might happen and here I am and i’m here because of people like him. Obviously the family, the people that stick with me throughout the process. And like i said this is not about ‘we told you so he’s going to be back’ it’s the other way around. It’s like people make mistakes and you need people around you that are going to pick you up and are going to help you get back to it and of all the people, my family, i put them in a bad spot but at the same time i’m still the little kid from the family, i’m the youngest one, so there’s a lot of love and teaching throughout the process adn they still teach me stuff. And i’m still learning and i’m glad i have them around me and in good times and in bad times. If you see it man this has been a rollercoaster, the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Now as a group, because they’re my team, they're my real team. We’ve got to stick together and keep pushing forward and learn from the mistakes and keep getting better."
