Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suarez was well on his way to throwing a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
I, for one, am glad that he couldn’t get the job done.
If you aren’t aware of the circumstances, let me paint the picture for you. Suarez allowed just one hit across eight innings of work in what would eventually become a 5-0 victory at Roger’s Centre — turning in his best performance since joining the organization this offseason while striking out 10 batters for the first time since Sept. 9, 2025.
Good!
If he had completed the no-no?
Bad!
I don’t have a problem with Ranger — other than the fact that he makes way more money than me and seems to be the coolest dresser around town, he seems to be a swell guy. I just don’t think we were all prepared for what could have come from a no-hitter under such odd circumstances.
Alex Cora — alongside hitting coach Pete Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, hitting and strategy coach Joe Cronin, and game planning and run prevention coach Jason Varitek — was shown the door over the weekend in one of the more shocking personnel moves we’ve seen around here in *checks notes* like nine months. The Red Sox have since held press conferences, hired ironically named charter services, gutted their minor league coaching staffs in order to backfill the positions, started the process of deflecting blame, alienated veteran players, and… won two in a row…
I won’t be the guy to say that winning is bad, but the old saying that it “cures all” isn’t exactly accurate in this context— it’s just serving as a distraction. If the dude threw a no-no, that distraction would have turned into a full-blown detour down a path of disingenuous takes that place blame for everything that happened over the weekend on the shoulders of one side in particular. The take machine wold have fired up and gone into overdrive.
It’s not that simple…
Cora didn’t exactly do himself any favors, as it has become clear in recent days that he was overly loyal to his coaching staff and pushed back on some of the requests made by the front office. Craig Breslow — and in turn, John Henry, Tom Werner, and Sam Kennedy — put together an extremely flawed roster and tried to overstep their bounds. I’ve only listed the quick and obvious examples, too. If you wanted to dive deep into this thing, it would take far more words than you’re willing to actually read.
Everyone in this situation deserves a piece of the blame, and until the people who are still around actually take accountability for their part in the split, history is bound to repeat itself. A no-hitter last night wouldn’t have changed that.
Suarez was awesome, though.
