Spirits were high for Red Sox manager Alex Cora during his weekly appearance with WEEI on Wednesday.
He was coming off consecutive victories against the Texas Rangers on Monday and Tuesday, and, of course, was taking part in the 2024 WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon.
The most important piece of news coming out of his appearance this week - Cora will be donating $113.30 to the Jimmy Fund for every stolen base by the Red Sox this season.
Currently, that puts him at a $13,000 donation, and that number will only climb as Boston remains as one of the best teams on the base path in all of baseball.
After winning the first two games of their series against the Rangers, the Red Sox (63-55) are now just 1.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals (66-55) for the final wild card playoff spot in the American League.
Cora told Gresh & Fauria that this team will go as far as its young core will take it.
“Yesterday, I’m looking around, looking at the lineup, looking at the guys,” said Cora. “I’m like, ‘Well, he started in Worcester, he started in Worcester, he’s a rookie, he’s a rookie,’ and they’re playing well, right?
“[Rob Refsnyder] made a good point. He talked to the kids two days ago, and [said], ‘We’re gonna go as far as they go,’ right? Like, when we play that brand of baseball that we’re running, playing good defense, being aggressive, scoring from first, all that - we’re really good. You know, when we slow down, that’s when we struggle, right?
“[Nick] Sogard, [Ceddanne] Rafaela, [Connor] Wong’s still young - it’s been fun.”
On top of the youth of this team continuing to perform, Cora said the pitching staff needs to continue hanging on and performing well for the Red Sox to have a shot at making a run this fall.
But with a recent injury to newly re-acquired starter James Paxton likely sidelining him for the remainder of the 2024 season, that may be a tall task for a staff that has struggled to remain consistent over the last month.
Cora knows the organization is going to have to get creative.
“I mean, the schedule is going to help us after Houston,” said Cora. “But we still got Baltimore and Houston. We still have one more against Texas. I think the off-days are gonna benefit us. And somehow, some way at some point, you know, it’s not that we’re gonna punt a game, or whatever, but we have to actually be creative one day to take care of them.
“September comes, you add to the roster, that’s going to help us. But it’s very important for our starters to do what Kutter [Crawford] did yesterday, what [Brayan] Bello did a few days ago - give us five, give us six. If we do that, we’re gonna be OK.”
If youth and pitching can continue producing, Cora sees a deep playoff run in this team’s future.
“Honestly, the season has been cool,” said Cora. “We felt like in August and September, there were going to be meaningful games here in Fenway. And I think we’re going to accomplish that.
“Obviously we want more. We want to play October baseball.”