The first managerial firing of the 2026 Major League Baseball season has taken place, and to the surprise of many, it doesn’t involve the New York Mets. It’s another big-market team with a lavish payroll that’s going in a different direction: the Boston Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora on Saturday.
Cora’s termination was among a number of coaching transactions that the Red Sox made in the midst of a 10–17 start to the season. In addition to replacing the skipper, Boston also let go of six other coaches while reassigning Jason Varitek, the team’s former captain who previously served as a player information coach. The Red Sox listed 14 members on their coaching staff, thus half of them have been either let go or reassigned elsewhere.
Chad Tracy, who was serving as manager of the club’s AAA team in Worcester since 2022, will take over from Cora in the interim. Tracy has no managerial experience in the majors, nor did he ever play in MLB. However, he did spend nine seasons as a player in the minor leagues and has served various coaching roles for the past dozen years in the minors. Also, he’s the son of Jim Tracy, who spent 11 years as a Big League manager.
Cora’s firing was announced just hours after the team’s biggest win of the season. Boston defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 17–1, on Saturday. The lopsided score came courtesy of 10 runs in the ninth inning, including a grand slam from Andruw Monasterio, a three-run homer from Willson Contreras, a two-run home run from Caleb Durbin, and an RBI single, also from Contreras.
The 17 runs were as many as the Sox has scored over their previous seven games combined. But it appeared no amount of runs the Red Sox put on Saturday’s scoreboard would have allowed Cora to keep his job, as Boston had only prevailed in one of those prior seven contests.
Cora was in his eighth season leading the Red Sox, with the highlight of those years coming in his first year on the job. In 2018, he led the Red Sox to the World Series championship, and that postseason run included an ALDS victory over the rival New York Yankees, as well as a 4–1 series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic.
Cora spent the 2020 pandemic-shortened season out of baseball due to his role in the sign-stealing scandal involving the Houston Astros, with whom he was previously a coach. After that year, the Red Sox rehired him, and both tenures of his Red Sox career conclude with him having a record of 620–541 (.534 W-L percent). He is the third winningest manager in Red Sox history, trailing only Joe Cronin (1,071 wins) and Terry Francona (744 wins).
The Red Sox have not won the AL East since that 2018 title-winning squad, but there was hope that the drought would end this season. The team went 89–73 in 2025 and made the postseason, losing in the Wild Card Round to the Yankees. However, Boston has regressed just about in every regard and especially at the plate. Entering play on Saturday, the Red Sox ranked last in the American League in home runs (15), on-base percentage (.306), slugging (.335), and OPS (.641). The team let All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman walk in free agency this offseason, and his replacement, Durbin, was hitting just .148 entering play on Saturday. That ranked dead last among 182 qualified MLB players.
Things weren’t much better on the mound as Boston had allowed the most home runs per 9 innings (1.5), the second-most hits/9 (8.8), and just three squads had a worse ERA (4.61). The Red Sox’ struggles even made their way to the field, as only three AL squads had more errors than Boston (15), before it committed another in Saturday’s win.
Even after Saturday’s victory, the Sox have the second-worst record in the American League and reside in last place of the AL East. However, 83.3 percent of the 2026 MLB season is still in front of them, so there’s plenty of time to make a run up the standings.
With Cora being replaced with Tracy, that means that 11 of MLB’s 30 current managers have been hired within the last calendar year. Cora’s firing also leaves just three active managers who are World Series winners in the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts (three championships), the Cincinnati Reds’ Francona (two), and the Detroit Tigers’ A.J. Hinch (one).
Red Sox owner John Henry released a statement that, in part, praised Cora for the 2018 World Series championship but also expressed a desire to go in a different direction.
“Alex Cora led this organization to one of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history in 2018, and for that, and the many years that followed, he will always have our deepest gratitude,” stated Henry. “He has had a lasting impact on this team and on this city. He has led on and off the field in so many important ways. These decisions are never easy, but this one is especially difficult given what Alex has meant to the Red Sox since the day he arrived.
“I want to thank Alex, our coaches, and their families for everything they have given to this organization. They have been part of this club in a way that goes beyond the field, and they will always have our respect and gratitude.”
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