Yeah, I've been critical of Cora but I don't hate him as a manager. I'd say he's been one of the better Sox managers in my lifetime, though aside from Francona they haven't been that impressive. The only other one I'd argue over him is Jimy Williams (RIP). I prefer Cora to Farrell at least.
Low scoring Broncos-Patriots game, shoulda took the under
Bruce Bochy makes a difference. Dude is a unicorn.
Until the playoffs, and then you have the massive ‘mouthbreather’ fan overreaction
Baseball managers have probably always been the least important of the major sports. It's such an individually focused game, pitcher vs batter. Managers don't get people out or swing the bat. In other sports the way the team is managed determines wins and losses far more, especially football where just about the only individual players that truly matter are QBs.
Baseball managers definitely increase in importance in the playoffs, there's far more decisions being made every game.
And even in the playoffs, look at how many crappy managers win titles like Ozzie Guillen and Ned Yost. It’s just not that important for baseball
He badly underachieved in 2019, no? That team was still loaded and they didn’t even make the playoffs. He also was disinterested and lousy in 2022 & 2023. He’s been much better this year, though.
He treated Spring Training like a Country Club in 2019 after the championship in 2018. None of the arms were ready and they were still ramping up into April and beyond. He essentially tanked that season. They still had Mookie then and could have made some noise.
Andrew Miller was such a great arm during that stretch of time. Such a filthy wipe out slider. I wish that the 2014 Orioles had a better rotation, because that bullpen with O’Day, Brach, Miller and Britton was about as good as you could get.
