Alex Cora just gave Yankees all the motivation they need to put Red Sox to bed

The Boston Red Sox sure knew what they were doing when they hired Alex Cora as their manager after the 2017 season. They also sure knew what they were doing when they brought him back after MLB suspended him for the 2020 season after discovering his involvement in the Houston Astros' cheating scandal. This guy is the absolute worst manager to have on the other side of the rivalry.

New York Yankees fans can't think of a more insufferable figurehead. From telling the Yankees to "suck on it" after Boston won the 2018 World Series (with some shady tactics) to somehow being credited as a managerial "wizard" despite just three playoff appearances in seven seasons and just two campaigns with 92 or more wins, Cora's reputation very much feels artificial and unearned.

And he's a master of getting under everybody's skin. His behavior this year has been the stuff of a politician — bragging endlessly when his side is doing well and then pointing fingers when things aren't going his way. It's actually incredible how this isn't a larger talking point among the baseball community.

Take this year, for example. As the Yankees and Red Sox gear up to face one another in the AL Wild Card Series, Cora's at it again. And he's been since early September. Let us take you through a little timeline to prove how incredibly intolerable this guy is.

Earlier in the month, star rookie Roman Anthony went down with an oblique injury. It was an unfortunate blow to the Red Sox's season, but they had enough talent to get by despite being without their 21-year-old phenom who had appeared in just 70 career games.

Cora, of course, had to make this the underdog story of the century, as he relayed to reporters that he told Anthony to envision taking his first at-bat in the ALCS through his recovery process to motivate him.

About of the month of the season remained, and he was telegraphing an incredibly unlikely scenario, especially since there was zero guarantee Anthony would be back at all in 2025. "Some b-lls," as Tony Soprano would say.

Let's fast forward 10 days, shall we? TEN DAYS LATER Cora is wondering why the media, after a three-game losing steak (including two defeats at the hands of the Yankees), is talking about the postseason. All of a sudden, the tenor shifted to, "I think we should stop talking about October."

Wahhh. Poor us. We lost a few games. That surely doesn't happen to any other MLB team throughout the course of a 162-game season! At that point, the Red Sox were 81-68 and still very much in a playoff spot.

Oh, and what do you know! A couple weeks later, Boston would clinch a spot in the 2025 postseason. What a great, great job. Hats off to everybody. Really incredible stuff. What did Cora have to say about it?

Oh, of course, the Boston rallying cry: everybody doubted us and nobody expected us to be here ... despite multiple outlets and personalities selecting them as a World Series contender prior to the start of the campaign.

Dropping a "f--king bullsh-t" for good measure, too, because that's the Boston Hardo way. Gotta make your point by being an obnoxious whiner.

We will admit, Cora later clarified that his comments were directed at the crowd of people who wrote them off after the Rafael Devers trade (who wouldn't??), but the point still stands. This man is the perfect manager for an entitled, braggadocio-fueled fanbase. Yes, this is a Yankees fan calling Red Sox fans entitled. Over the last 20 years, the narrative has shifted. Red Sox fans go from boycotting their team to being "all in" two months later. They shrug off last-place finishes in the division because "it's football season anyway." They go on random, undeserved playoff runs and claim they're the best to ever do it. The absolute worst.

And good on Aaron Boone for lightly calling out Cora on Monday during the Wild Card presser. Hopefully this helps set the tone and it rallies the Yankees, who have to be sick of this nonsense. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have experienced this since Day 1. About time they make the Red Sox pay.

The Red Sox have no shame in artificially oscillating between "we're the best team you've ever seen" and "we're the scrappy underdogs everybody counted out." We'll give them and Cora credit, though: they know how to rally a massive group of know-nothings. Nice work taking a page out of modern day American politics. The lowest-hanging fruit possible.

Yankees fans can only hope Boone and the Yankees are rallying behind the scenes, as we know they're above this type of behavior. This was always a must-win for the Bombers, but there should be even more of a burning desire to get revenge on their rivals and shut them up until 2026 — because even Yankees fans can admit the Red Sox are set up to be a dominant force for at least the next five years.