As manager of the Red Sox, Alex Cora knows his remit: when in doubt, beat the Yankees.
It's the preeminent rivalry in baseball, a clash of foes who know all about each other. And it is seriously profitable: nationally televised games between Boston and New York tend to draw more eyes than most. Such is the case when featuring two teams so steeped in the sport's history.
But that doesn't make it viable. Both sides have experienced less-than-stellar starts to the season — the Yankees sit in third place in the American League East, while the Red Sox are fifth. Regardless of their past successes, is that really a matchup that is deserving of the bright lights?
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Cora doesn't believe so. And with the two sides set to duel on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" this weekend at Fenway Park, the Boston skipper let his thoughts be known.
"I think it's too much sometimes. Back-to-back Sunday night games, with all due respect to ESPN, come on," Cora said, per Jen McCaffery of The Athletic. "There's other teams out there and people want to watch them."
Cora is alluding to the fact that it was only one week ago that the Sawx and Bombers faced off against one another on a Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, with Boston winning 3-2 in 10 innings. That series also included a Saturday night clash that aired on Fox, a game New York won 3-1.
That's not to say that Cora is knocking the rivalry. In fact, he lauded it, indicating that it still carried vigor despite the two sides meeting in the postseason just three times in the past 19 years.
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“When it’s the last four or five years people might be down, but we have played in two playoffs since ’18,” Cora said, per NESN. "It all depends how you see it, but since ’18, (we've) played in two (playoff) series already and that was cool. … It was very intense.”
Still, it seems Cora would like to see some variety in ESPN's selection for nationally televised games. That could be somewhat influenced by Boston's schedule — the Red Sox have a road date with the Twins on Monday evening.
Nevertheless, with a number of exciting clashes on the schedule for Sunday, including Blue Jays vs. Rangers, Giants vs. Dodgers and even Reds vs. Astros, perhaps Cora is on to something.
