The 24-year-old era of the Red Sox within the John Henry-led Fenway Sports Group, already marked by many thrilling highs and painful lows, is facing arguably its greatest challenge yet.
The club fired manager Alex Cora late Saturday, along with five other assistant coaches, and reassigned game planning and run prevention coach Jason Varitek. The organizational housecleaning arrived after a 2026 season that started with so much hope has turned into an ugly 10–17 campaign entering Sunday’s game at Baltimore.
Cora, replaced by interim manager Chad Tracy, becomes the 19th manager in MLB’s 57-year divisional era to be fired within the first games of the season, and the first since the Reds’ Bryan Price in 2018.
That 2018 timing is also relevant for the Red Sox, as it’s the last time Boston won a World Series. Since then, the Red Sox have missed the playoffs in five of seven seasons, and Cora did not manage the team in 2020 and was suspended that year for his prior role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
Much more recently, the Red Sox were just swept at home by the arch-rival Yankees, have not had a three-game winning streak at any point in 2026, and rank poorly in a series of MLB statistical measures. A 2–8 start to the season levied early pressure on Cora this year, and Boston’s play since then didn’t materially change the outlook.
“Yesterday was definitely painful, but we felt it was a necessary move and we felt it was necessary to take decisive action to achieve the goal of a fresh start for the 2026 season,” said Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy in a Sunday press conference.
Highs and Lows
The firings extend the roller-coaster ride that has marked the FSG era of owning the club. Under the group’s stewardship, the team has won four World Series titles, led a successful restoration of Fenway Park, and given nearly $150 million in charitable donations through its foundation. Those highs for the Red Sox, however, have been joined by several painful lows, including six last-place finishes in the AL East division.
Amid that backdrop, chants of “Sell the team!” are already ringing out at Fenway Park.
Craig Breslow, the team’s chief baseball officer, led the decision to fire Cora and the other coaches.
“By acting today, it gives 135 games ahead of us, so we’ve got almost a full season’s worth of run to take advantage of this fresh start,” Breslow said. “Ultimately, [we want] to compete for a division and deep postseason run in the way that we talked about it and envisioned and believed heading into spring training.”
The Red Sox are one of several high-revenue MLB clubs to face early-season struggles, with the Mets, Phillies, and Blue Jays also among those not performing up to expectations. That situation elsewhere in the league means that Cora—currently owed the majority of a three-year, $21.75 million contract running through 2027—may not be out of work for very long.
