The Red Sox enter play on Wednesday with a 2.5-game lead on the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild card spot in the American League, but they've gone from challenging for the division title to hoping to get into the playoffs as the final wild card team in just the span of a week. And the drumbeats against manager Alex Cora are growing louder.

The Boston Red Sox lost to the Athletics on Tuesday night, falling for the third time in four games. Just a week ago, it looked like the Red Sox could still challenge the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East crown, but they are now seven games back of the Jays, having gone 4-6 in their last 10. 

Furthermore, the Red Sox have dropped to the third wild card spot in the American League, and though they still have a greater than 85 percent chance to make the playoffs, the frustration among fans and media members has grown louder as Boston has hurt its own opportunities to get guaranteed home games in the wild card round.

Our own Tom Carroll wrote on Wednesday that manager Alex Cora is the reason for the Sox' loss on Tuesday, and then Jones & Keefe at WEEI in Boston said that missing the playoffs would be a fireable offense for the skipper.

Why a firing is not likely

Look, in a reactive media market like Boston, anything is possible, but it doesn't feel likely that Cora would be fired, even if Boston collapses entirely to miss the playoffs.

First, Cora agreed to a three-year contract extension in 2024, and his deal runs through the 2027 season. Even though Red Sox' ownership has the money to eat a contract, they likely aren't in the business of paying dead money. Teams don't want to do it with players, and they don't want to do it with managers, either, especially one who won a World Series (2018) and advanced to the ALCS (2021) in his tenture.

Furthermore, Cora has long been treated like a member of the Red Sox family. They hired him in 2018, saw him win the World Series, then stuck by him enough to bring him back in 2021 after his MLB-issued suspension in 2020. They chose him over Chaim Bloom clearly in a front office power struggle, with the latter getting fired in 2023 and Cora surviving.

The team finished last in the AL East in 2022 and 2023, and Cora still stuck around to get the contract extension. With the young players now in place and a contention window wide open, it seems like Cora is destined to stick around again.

Why could a firing happen?

Two reasons. One, a reactive ownership group. And two? Craig Breslow.

Red Sox upper management has been known to read the papers and listen to talk radio. I'm convinced its part of the reason they fired Bloom when they did. They are for finding scapegoats and with Rafael Devers already gone, perhaps Cora is the next target in line.

Secondly, Breslow did not hire Cora as his manager. He inherited him. The organization chose Cora over Bloom, could they go the other way this time?

Up next

The Red Sox and A's will play again on Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. ET.