NEW YORK — In describing the Red Sox’ inaction at the trade deadline two weeks ago, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom described his club as “underdogs.” It became clear earlier this week that Bloom’s message had reached the clubhouse.
Throughout Boston’s three-game series in Washington, manager Alex Cora and game-planning coordinator Jason Varitek were among those who wore red shirts depicting the U-shaped logo of “Underdog,” the popular animated cartoon dog from the 1960s. A similar shirt is available on Amazon for as cheap as $22.99. Though it’s hard to believe the two events aren’t linked, Cora downplayed the significance of the shirt Friday, denying that the Sox had used Bloom’s comments as motivation for the final two months of the season.
“Actually, Tek gave me a shirt with the ‘U,’” Cora said. “He put it in my locker and I put it on. It’s not a theme in the clubhouse.”
Whether or not the fashion choices by Cora and Varitek were a joke or some sort of subtle shot at Bloom, the odds remain stacked against the Red Sox. Winners of just seven of their last 18 games, the Sox entered this weekend’s series at Yankee Stadium with just a 6.9% of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs. They’re 3.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the third and final wild card spot in the American League and also trail the Mariners by three games. With 41 games to go, the Sox have to leapfrog two teams who have been playing good baseball. Cora, though, is more optimistic than the projections would suggest.
“We’re 3.5 games back. You can see how it however you want,” Cora said. “I think 3.5 games back is a good weekend, right? You come here and win the series or do something bigger and another team loses three and you’re a half-game back. I don’t know how the odds work. I never worked for FanGraphs. I probably won’t do that, either. I was very bad at math but I know 3.5 is 3.5.
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“I actually played the roulette a few times at Hotel San Juan and I wasn’t good at it so I decided not to go with the odds,” he added.
Over the last 10 days, the Red Sox have missed some opportunities to gain some ground while playing bad teams. They went a combined 6-4 against three teams under .500 (Kansas City, Detroit and Washington) and dropped two of three to the Nationals to start a long road trip. After this weekend’s series in the Bronx, the schedule will get much tougher with the Astros (twice), Dodgers, Rays and Orioles on the docket before Sept. 15. The clock is ticking for the Red Sox to go on a run.
“Every game counts from March 29 all the way to the end of the season, but now, you see it. The days are less,” Cora said. “The urgency is there. And you can tell. We’ve just got to keep grinding, keep going. This is a tough part of the schedule. We know. But I think we’ve been good against solid teams.”
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The Red Sox have the most complete roster they’ve had all season with Trevor Story, Chris Sale and Garrett Whitlock healthy and Tanner Houck likely to return to the rotation Monday or Tuesday in Houston. Still, the returns of Story and Sale haven’t given the Sox the immediate jolt many expected. Entering Friday, Story was hitting just .226 after going 0-for-12 in three games against the Nats. After dominating in his return from the injured list a week ago, Sale was just OK on Thursday against the Nats in a game the Red Sox lost handily.
Cora believes playing in the heat of a playoff race makes players naturally focus less on individual performances.
“I do believe, now, as a player, you’re 0-for-4 and a W, you like it,” he said. “It gets to the point in the season that your 0-for-4 weighed more than a W. Just being honest. They have to take care of their business and hit and be good baseball players to get paid. At this point now, if you have a bad game, it’s a lot easier to turn the page understanding where you’re at in the standings and you have a shot to make it.”
Before beginning a big series against the scuffling Yankees, Cora acknowledged that he’s keeping an eye on what Toronto (facing the Reds this weekend) and Seattle (facing the Astros) are doing on a nightly basis.
“I watch. It’s what we do,” he said. “The goal here is to get to September 1 and then look up and look down and be like, ‘OK, this is what we’ve got to do the rest of the month to make it to October.”