After the Red Sox (81-67) were two-hit on Friday night in their series opener with the Yankees (82-65) at Fenway Park, the playoff atmosphere that felt around the city pregame had quickly turned into standings angst with 14 games to go in the regular season.

In the AL Wild Card standings, Boston sits 1.5 games behind New York, placing them in the second wild card position if the season were to end before Saturday afternoon’s game between the two teams. Right behind the Red Sox are the Astros (80-68) and Mariners (80-68), both just a game behind Boston in the standings.

In the AL East, Boston has fallen 4.5 games behind Toronto (85-62) for a chance at the division crown, with the Yankees obviously ahead of them in second place. And with a three-game series against the Blue Jays eight games away, it appears Boston’s slim chances of winning the division for the first time since 2018 are slipping away by the day.

So when manager Alex Cora was asked during his pregame press conference on Saturday about how important it was to settle on a lineup against lefties before October arrives, he decided to flip the conversation.

His mood had done a full 180 from the day prior, where he was joking about multiple people trying to pick up his tab at Legal Sea Foods in the Seaport because of their excitement for where the team was at.

When your team goes down 0-1 in a must-win three-game series at home against your bitter rival that you’ve dominated all season, that’ll happen.

Here’s everything Cora had to say pregame on Saturday about shifting the conversation away from October, and focusing more on his team playing better down the stretch:

On October talk:

“I think we should stop talking October. To be honest with you, there's a lot of stuff going on, and we have to play better. I'm not saying we're in a bad spot, but I think we have to wait to see if October is part of this.”

On what his team needs to improve down the stretch:

“I think offensively, we have to be better,” said Cora. “Obviously, no [Wilyer Abreu], no Roman Anthony, it's a different group, it's a different lineup. But [it’s] guys that are able to execute, you know? They've been here the whole season, they’ve been part of it. So I think they're capable of putting better at bats and getting the line moving.”

On whether or not Cora will manage his young team differently down the home stretch of the season as the pressure cranks up:

“I mean, there’s not much you can do,” said Cora. “Just talk to them and help them out, just the same way we did early in the season. It just happens that, you know, everything gets magnified now, right? Every play, every decision.

“So just talk to them, walk them through it. There was a play the other day with [David Hamilton] at second. It was a tag, and we talked about it yesterday. He was like, ‘What should I have done better?’ I said, ‘Just tag.’

“That's what you gotta do, you know? Stuff like that. And they're good athletes. They're good players. We trust them. So just stay with the process, and hopefully they go out there and they can relax and enjoy the situation and be productive.”

That pressure begins at 4:10 p.m. ET, with the Yankees throwing lefty ace Max Fried (16-5, 3.02 ERA) as their starter.

…not exactly the guy you want to face when your team is battling through inconsistencies at the dish. But they have no choice.

It’s must-win time at Fenway Park.

Don’t lose this game.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.