The Boston Red Sox have endured a difficult two months to start the 2025 campaign. The team is languishing near the bottom of the division standings, while it faces a stiff uphill battle to earn a playoff berth via the wild card route.
The New York Yankees, meanwhile, have made an excellent start to the season despite having some major absentees in their pitching staff. They have held the top spot in their division for nearly two straight months with a commanding lead over their rivals.
Alex Cora Expresses Surprise at Red Sox’s Gap to the Yankees in AL East Standings
Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager, recently stated that he was “surprised” by the massive advantage the Yankees have claimed at this early stage of the campaign. He lamented the subpar showing of his own team, saying their rivals have performed as he expected.
Cora had offered his thoughts after the Red Sox lost 4-3 in extra innings against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park on Tuesday night. As a result, they surrendered the three-game home series, having lost the opening two encounters.
“Surprised [about the large gap] but not surprised by how they’re playing,” Cora said in the post-game interview. “I’m not surprised at all. I think they’ve been doing that consistently for a lot of years. Their best player is playing at a—I mean, it’s been unbelievable the numbers that he’s putting up.”
“One thing they do is they pitch. They’ve been pitching for a while. Their program’s really good, even with injuries. They have capable guys, and the guys that they have are performing. And when you do that consistently, you win consistently at this level.”
Alex Cora says that while he’s “surprised” his team is 10 games back of the Yankees for first place in the AL East, he’s “not surprised about the way they’re playing:”
“I’m not surprised at all. I think they’ve been doing that consistently for a lot of years. Their best player… pic.twitter.com/Wo5ApJKH0K
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) June 4, 2025
The Red Sox responded with an encouraging 11-9 victory on Wednesday to avoid getting swept by the Angels at home. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run walk-off homer off Brock Burke in the bottom of the ninth for only their third win in the last 10 games.
“It’s Fenway, right? And hopefully this gets us going. But to say that we needed this one is an understatement, you know? A lot of close games, and they go the other way,” Cora said in his post-game press conference on Wednesday.
The Red Sox will have the day off on Thursday before they travel to New York for a three-game series with the Yankees starting on Friday. Cora underlined the importance of the series against their archrivals in the overall context of the season.
“We have to be better. It’s always good to win. I mean, tomorrow’s the off-day reset. We have to reset. We will see where we’re at pitching-wise and just be ready for Friday. It should be fun,” Cora said.
“We go to New York, take that series, see where we’re at, and then we come home and hopefully play better here. But it starts in New York, you know? We’ve just got to go over there and win the series,” he added.
The Yankees lead the American League East standings with a 37-23 record. On the other hand, the Red Sox occupy fourth place in the division at 30-34, with a 4.5-game deficit in the wild card race.