Boston Red Sox
“I don’t know what the future holds. I’m in a good place right now.”
Alex Cora was fired by the Red Sox in April. AP Photo/Jim Davis
August 11, 2026 | 6:51 PM
4 minutes to read
The Red Sox’ decision to fire Alex Cora just 27 games into the 2026 season sent shockwaves across baseball — with Cora himself surprised to see his tenure in Boston end in such short order.
Cora, who managed Boston to a World Series title in 2018, has largely remained mum over the last few months when it comes to his firing in Boston, the Red Sox’ subsequent resurgence, and his next steps in baseball.
But speaking on the “Dirt from the Dugout” podcast with Karl Ravech and Justin Musil on Monday, Cora shared some of his thoughts on how he’s processed the last four months since getting let go by the Red Sox.
“I’m like, you know what, I needed my family, for how much I love the game,” Cora said. “I’ll say it again, it’s three different feelings: happy for my family, upset that they didn’t let me finish the job and honestly, relieved I don’t have to go through scouting reports and the matrix and talk to the media twice a day and live in the bubble of, ‘We have to do this.’
“At the end, priorities are priorities. These people here are amazing and they’re loving life.”
Boston ultimately decided to fire Cora amid a 10-17 start to the 2026 season — a year where Boston was seemingly setting high expectations after punching their ticket to the postseason the previous year.
Along with Cora, several longtime staffers and coaches — including bench coach Ramón Vázquez, hitting coach Pete Fatse, and game planning coordinator Jason Varitek — were either let go or reassigned from their previous roles.
For Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Boston’s abrupt shift just a month into the new season stood as a drastic action designed to get the Red Sox out of an early tailspin.
“It really comes down to the belief that we have in the players and the belief that we have in the group to accomplish what we set out to accomplish,” Breslow said in April. “And by acting today, it gives us 135 games ahead of us, so we’ve got almost a full season’s worth of run to take advantage of this fresh start and ultimately 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.”
Boston’s decision to turn to interim manager Chad Tracy has paid off. Even though it took Boston another few months to truly take off, Tracy has led the Red Sox to a 54-37 record since taking the helm of the club — pushing Boston back into a Wild Card spot.
But it didn’t take very long for Cora to get mentioned as a managerial candidate this season.
Speaking to reporters in April, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski revealed that he discussed offering the Philadelphia managerial job to Cora after the team fired Rob Thomson.
Cora ultimately declined the job, with Philly opting to promote Don Mattingly as the club’s interim manager for the 2026 season.
“I think Alex Cora’s one of the finest managers in the game of baseball,” Dombrowski said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Hall of Fame managers like Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland and have been very fortunate in my career. I think if Alex Cora decides to keep managing again, he has a chance to be in that same category. That’s how good he is. ”
Cora — who said he went on a trip to Europe with his family this summer and returned to Boston to watch a few World Cup games — said he plans on managing again, although he’s unsure when that will be.
“I think at one point, I’m gonna get back. When? We don’t know,” Cora said of returning to the dugout.
Even after his shocking end in Boston, Cora credited Boston and the pressure emanating from this market as helping him become a better manager across two stints and eight total seasons with the Red Sox.
“Boston challenged me every single freaking day,” Cora said. “Every day. From Day 1, in that press conference in November of 2017, all the way to April 25 in Baltimore this year. Just the expectations. Shoot, you feel that you have to win 162 games in Boston. They push you to be great. When you have bad days, you remember you’re in Fenway Park and you’re playing in Boston and you cannot mope around. You have to show up and do it over and over and over again the right way as a manager.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he added. “I’m in a good place right now. But from that day when I signed that contract all the way to when the decision was made, that fan base challenged me. It’s non-stop. It’s actually very intense and, honestly, I can feel now kinda like, ‘Oh, OK, this is life.’”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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