Red Sox's Sluggish Starts Are Concerning Trend For Alex Cora

Red Sox's Sluggish Starts Are Concerning Trend For Alex Cora originally appeared on NESN . Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Alex Cora is in his eighth season as manager of the Boston Red Sox , and they've been pretty good under his watch.

Entering play on Friday, he's managed them to three postseason appearances, a World Series title and a . 536 winning percentage in the regular season. For all of his talents as a manager, however, one thing Cora's teams have consistently struggled with is getting off to good starts .

They've tended to struggle down the stretch, too, but that's an issue for a separate post. That wasn't the case in 2018, obviously, when the Red Sox dominated wire-to-wire . After losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day, they immediately ripped off a nine-game winning streak and opened the year 17-2, racing out to their best start in franchise history.

Boston suffered a World Series hangover in 2019, however, starting the year 2-8 and ultimately missing the postseason. Cora received some criticism at the time for being overly cautious with his starting pitchers in spring training after pushing them hard the previous October, which may have contributed to the reigning champs' flat start. Alex Cora on the Red Sox play over the last week?