Alex Cora fires shot at Red Sox fans but for good reason

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora has had anything but an easy job in the 2024 season. Amid injuries, a front office promising a "full-throttle" offseason and not delivering, a multitude of senseless mistakes, and a team that seemingly can't get more than a game clear of .500 (in either direction), the fact that he has the club in the AL Wild Card picture is quite remarkable.

Throughout the season and all of the hardships, though, Cora has remained blunt, realistic and even often optimistic about this team. He clearly loves the way the Red Sox compete and their fight night in and night out.

However, on Friday night in the first game of the season against the rival New York Yankees, Cora saw something he was definitely not a fan of -- and he didn't stay quiet about it.

Alex Cora calls out Red Sox fans after 'Let's Go Yankees' chant in Fenway

While the Red Sox were on the wrong end of a drubbing from their biggest rivals, the crowd at Fenway Park sounded as if it had far more Yankees fans than home faithful. That was true when there were boisterous cheers for Alex Verdugo, now in pinstripes after an offseason trade, belted a two-run homer in the first inning, his first at-bat against his former team and the first pitch he saw.

But it reached Cora's boiling point when he heard "Let's Go Yankees" chants bellowing and echoing throughout Fenway and bouncing off of the Green Monster. And that's where he drew the line and he called out Red Sox fans for allowing it to happen not just against New York but at several points this season, per Christopher Smith of Mass Live.

"Let’s get the lead and change the chants," Cora said. "It’s been happening for a while here. It’s happening somewhere else. I saw the other day the Dodgers had like 5,000 people marching in the Bronx, going to Yankee Stadium. I think people are more willing to travel and follow their teams. It’s not an excuse. It should be a lot better here as far as like our fans showing up for us. But at the same time, we haven’t been good in a while. So there’s a balance and hopefully sooner rather than later we can change that, change the narrative and be 80%-20% our way."

Yes, opposing fans are willing to travel. But the fans in Boston should be consistently filling Fenway Park in the Red Sox's favor, not allowing it to be the other way around. Cora is spot-on with that assessment.

The silver lining, if there is one, is that Cora said he doesn't believe something like the Yankees chants or anything of the like is affecting the Red Sox players. That's a positive but it still shouldn't ever be something that the team's manager should have to call out or address.

Getting called out for not being a good fan certainly doesn't feel good. But for a Red Sox team that has played much poorer at home than you'd expect this season, perhaps Cora is trying to change at least one aspect that might be contributing to that. Or, at the very least, he's trying to not make his team look foolish with the opposing team getting more support at Fenway than the Red Sox.