BOSTON — Manager Alex Cora believes that the Red Sox have been overlooked dating back to spring training.
“Nobody thought we were gonna make it to October,” Cora said Saturday, after Boston clinched a postseason berth Friday night. “Whoever says that we were a playoff team, that’s (expletive) bull-(expletive), to be honest with you. Nobody thought we were gonna make it to October. It was New York. It was Baltimore. It was Toronto. And we believed we were going to play in October. We set our standards every single day. And we hit our standards.
MLB.com had 59 voters predict each division winner and postseason winners before the season. The website chose the Red Sox to win both the AL East and AL Pennant.
The Red Sox also received the most votes among FanGraphs’ staff members to win the AL East, and AL Pennant while also receiving most votes for the No. 1 seed in the American League.
ESPN’s preseason predictions had Boston as MLB’s ninth best team with 45.6% playoff odds.
“Up and down, trades, injuries — we kept going,” Cora said. “And you have to let them (the players) know because over 162 to do that is not easy. And they accomplished that. So we had to celebrate yesterday. But they did a good job. They turned the page. They’re hungover. Yeah. That’s the reality of it. But we’ll show up today and we will try to kick their (expletive).”
The Red Sox clinched one of the final two Wild Card spots. Different scenarios need to play out Saturday and Sunday before their seed and opponent are determined. One thing is for certain — they will play the three-game Wild Card Series on the road.
“I think honestly, people thought we had a good team but in the division, nobody thought we were going to be this good, to be honest with you,” Cora said.
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