Morning Briefing: Red Sox Fire Manager Alex Cora

Good morning, Mets fans! Let’s play two.

The Red Sox, off to a 10-17 start, are cleaning house. Boston fired manager Alex Cora Saturday along with hitting coach Peter Fatse, third base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. The team said Jason Varitek, the game planning and run prevention coach, was reassigned to a new role in the organization. Cora led the Red Sox to the 2018 title in his first year as manager and finishes with a 619-541 record.

Chad Tracy, manager of the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate Worcester since 2022, was named interim manager.

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Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com wrote that the Mets’ playoff hopes have dipped the most since Opening Day, according to FanGraphs. Heading into Saturday’s action, the Mets’ playoff odds were at 43.2 percent, down 37.2 percent. A better than two-in-five chance actually seems pretty good considering the 12-game losing streak.

The other biggest fallers were the Phillies (-32%), Royals (-28.1%), Red Sox (-27.7%) and Blue Jays (-16.7%). FanGraphs gives the Mets a 3% chance to win the World Series, down 5.5% from Opening Day.

The teams whose playoffs odds improved the most are the Guardians (+23.5 percent), Padres (+19.9 percent), Cubs (+19.2 percent), Rangers (+15.9 percent) and Yankees (+14.3 percent).

The Mets, despite being 9-17, still have better odds to make the postseason than the first-place Guardians. Go figure.

The rainout Saturday means the Mets will play a single-admission doubleheader vs. the Rockies Sunday starting at 1:40 p.m. ET. Nolan McLean (1-1, 2.67 ERA) faces LHP Jose Quintana (0-2, 6.23 ERA) in Game 1 and Kodai Senga (0-3, 8.83 ERA) will start Game 2, which will begin 30 to 45 minutes after the first game ends. The Rockies have not announced a Game 2 starter. Both games will air on SNY.

Reliever Austin Warren is expected to be the Mets’ extra player for the doubleheader, league sources told Will Sammon of The Athletic.

The rainout allowed Mets hitting coach Troy Snitker to surprise his dad, Brian, who was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame on Saturday, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The younger Snitker knocked on his dad’s hotel room door and the ex-Braves skipper thought it was the maid.

Latest MLB News

The Dodgers honored Rick Monday on the 50th anniversary of him saving an American flag from being burned in the Dodger Stadium outfield. Monday was playing center field for the Cubs on April 25, 1976, when two men came on the field with the flag, spread it out on the outfield grass and doused it with lighter fluid. Monday ran over and took the flag away before they could set it on fire.

Monday, a veteran of the Marine Corps reserves, received a bronze sculpture of him running with the flag from Marine Corps members on Saturday. Monday has preserved the flag and is loaning it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where it will be on exhibit starting on Memorial Day.

Brandon Phillips signed a ceremonial one-day contract to retire a Red. The 44-year-old, who last played in 2018, was also inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame along with pitcher Aaron Harang, outfielder Reggie Sanders and manager Lou Piniella.

The Reds placed 3B-DH Eugenio Suárez on the 10-day injured list with a mild left oblique strain.

The Blue Jays placed outfielder Nathan Lukes on the 10-day injured list with strained left hamstring.

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Chris Bello has the Mets at No. 16 in his weekly MLB power rankings.

Mojo Hill has noticed that Freddy Peralta runs into trouble in the middle innings.

I wrote up a minor league recap of Friday’s action. A.J. Ewing homered and Elian Peña doubled and stole two bases.

On This Date in Mets History

1995: The Rockies open Coors Field with a classic against the Mets. Rico Brogna and Todd Hundley homer, but John Franco blows the save in the ninth and the game goes to extras tied at 7-7. After trading single runs in the 13th, Joe Orsulak hits a go-ahead double in the top of the 14th. But Dante Bichette, future dad of Bo, hits a three-run, walk-off homer off Mike Remlinger for the 11-9 win.

1988: Keith Hernandez homers off ex-Met Charlie Puleo and future Met Tom Glavine. He drives in seven runs, including career RBI No. 1,000, in a 13-4 victory over the Braves. Hernandez finishes his career with 1,071 RBIs. Dwight Gooden throws a complete game to improve to 5-0.

Born on This Date: Joey Wendle (1990), Scott Strickland (1976), Ricky Trlicek (1969), Lou Thornton (1963), Mike Scott (1955), Amos Otis (1947).

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