The life and times of Alex Cora
Some around baseball are still asking how the Red Sox are doing this.
Fair.
For those not paying all that close of attention to this team, they will see an organization that spent the season's first two-plus months living in mediocrity and then traded away their franchise player. There was a nearly two-month injury to their best position player. And then came a trade deadline that did nothing to convince the naysayers.
Sure, like some teams, the Red Sox could have their brief runs of optimism, but convincing outsiders this was a legitimate, no-doubt-about-it postseason contender was a tough sell.
Friday night, Alex Cora's team garnered a whole new collection of believers.
In their latest introduction to the National League West elite, the Red Sox handled the Padres, 10-2, at Petco Park. It was another night of questions being answered.
Walker Buehler's viability? He threw six innings of shutout ball against the NL West's place team.
Getting the better of former teammate, and one of the National League's best pitchers in 2025, Nick Pivetta? The Red Sox became just the second team this season to put up as many as five runs against the righty, raising Pivetta's ERA from 2.73 to 2.94.
And then there was the simple ability to show the Red Sox can hang with the teams that are perceived to be viable World Series contenders.
With the win, the Red Sox now have the third-best run differential in baseball (plus-89), only behind the Brewers and Cubs. They are tied with the Guardians and Mariners for the second-best record since the trade deadline (6-1), with Milwaukee still not having lost.
Since June 28, the Sox are tied with the Brewers for the most wins in baseball, winning 25 of their 34 games. Within that run, there have been win streaks of 10 straight and seven in a row.
Using that late June jumping off point, the Red Sox are the only team in MLB that possesses three starters with a 2.77 ERA or better over that span (Brayan Bello, 2.42; Lucas Giolito, 2.45; Garrett Crochet, .2.77). During the stretch, the starters have gone 18-6, while the relievers boast the second-best ERA in baseball (2.72), trailing only the widely-praised bullpen of San Diego.
The numbers and evidence isn't hard to find. The feeling of sustainability might have been.
That changed (at least a little bit) thanks to Buehler's return to Petco Park.
"Let’s not sugarcoat it," Buehler told reporters, including MLB.com. "The biggest thing that people talk about with me is pitching in the playoffs. And so when you face teams that are going to be in the playoffs, I think they're in some way drastically more important for me."