Alex Cora details unique ways Alex Bregman is impacting Red Sox

BOSTON — In his first year with the Boston Red Sox, Alex Bregman is making a bigger impact on the team than the box score shows, according to manager Alex Cora.

Entering Tuesday night's game at Fenway Park against the Baltimore Orioles, Boston was 41-24 at home this season. That's a big plus over last year's 38-43 mark inside Fenway Park and the improvement there is one of the reasons why the Red Sox remain in the race for a wild-card spot in the American League.

Last year, the Red Sox didn't have Bregman as an anchor in the lineup. This season with Bregman manning third base, Cora is seeing a big difference in attitudes in Boston.

"What we've been talking about the whole time, we have to be better at home. We have to, and that's what makes it great and we're doing that," Cora said. "Every day you come here, we're excited about it. There were a few times over the last three years that we weren't good here at Fenway Park. We're enjoying it.

"I think it's a different group starting with Alex. Since he got here, I had a sense that the baseball side of it will get better because that's who he is and that's what he brings, and that's what I told the coaching staff the next day we signed him. He's going to challenge everybody here, including me, from noon all the way till midnight. He will challenge it, and that's what he does. The baseball conversations that were good in the past, now they're great."

While challenging a manager might be seen as a negative in some instances, Cora was quick to point out that it's about how his team has come together, even with the trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants that initially shook the franchise.

"It's been fun. Just the way we are handling stuff, the way we are playing, the way we're going about everything, it's fun," Cora said. "Winning is better than losing, right?

"We made the big decision with Raffy and we had to learn again because we were playing good baseball. The whole thing going to San Fran was a little bit tough for the team, but then we got here and we turned the page."

Turning the page has been easier for the Red Sox with Bergman on the roster. He entered Tuesday reaching base safely in 54 of his last 62 games, including 24 of 26 starts since July 11 when he returned from the injured list with a right quad strain. 

He leads primary third basemen in OPS (.925) and wRC+ (152, minimum 50 plate appearances).

Those are key numbers, but Bregman has also brought a different intensity to the Red Sox this season. And, while his future with the team is a bit murky with an opt-out clause in his contract after the season, Boston is making the most of his time and experience through battles for the postseason after a pair of World Series titles with the Houston Astros during his nine years in south Texas.

Will that experience in crunch time help push Boston into the postseason in 2025? As long as it remains a possibility, expect Bregman to continue to challenge all levels of the franchise during the final few weeks of the regular season.