So far, Alex Cora has led something of a charmed life.
In his first season as a major league manager, Cora has overseen a team that is threatening to post the best record in franchise history, their playoff berth long ago assured and a division title clearly within their grasp.
He inherited a strong roster, one that was coming off two consecutive division titles and was full of prime-age, established players. He also has had the benefit of almost unlimited resources, with the game's biggest payroll and an ownership/management team willing to go beyond the highest threshold of the luxury tax to put the best team possible on the field.
For the most part, he's overseen a relatively healthy roster. True, he's been without Dustin Pedroia for all but three games, but he knew Pedroia's status long before the season started. And yes, a handful of everyday players -- Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers -- have had DL stints, but the vast majority were quick stays and uneventful injuries (muscle pulls and strains, contusions, etc).
Which isn't to suggest by any means that Cora has been some lucky bystander.
He set the right tone in spring training, gained the trust of his players and has, with few exceptions, pushed the right buttons when it comes to in-game management. In less than a year, Cora has established himself a strong communicator, built relationships with his players and staff and handled his media responsibilities without incident.
For that, it's likely he'll be honored as American League Manager of the Year in November, an honor he richly deserved.
But before that, Cora has one more giant test to face: the postseason.
That's where the challenges come for managers. For players, the games remain (relatively) the same. But for managers, the changes are significant. In-season, managers take the long view, with an eye toward the entire, grueling 162-game schedule. Managers are taught -- as Cora frequently notes -- not to "chase wins.''
In October, chasing wins is the task at hand. Every win is precious and should be attained at all costs. Moreover, matchups become magnified and strategy is paramount, especially when it comes to bullpen management. In short, it's almost a completely different -- some would suggest antithetical -- to the job performed from April through September.
Cora will find that out soon enough, though, from his playing days and stint last season as Houston Astros bench coach, he surely recognizes it already.
When the Sox begin their division series, it won't matter how good they were in the regular season. It won't matter that his team may not lose more than three games in a row during the season because a three-game losing streak in the playoffs will get you sent home immediately.
"However you word it, you either win or you don't,'' said Terry Francona of the changes that take place in the postseason for managers. "At the end of the year, some teams are a special regular season team. But then another season starts (the postseason) and you've got to go through it again to be considered really special. I think you have to be good and I think you have to be a little fortunate. And then, you have to be good enough to take advantage of (being fortunate).
"It's hard to be the last team standing, even for teams that win over 100 games. We found that out last year. It's hard.''
Indeed, Francona's Cleveland Indians won 102 games in 2017, including an incredible 22 in a row -- and 27 out of 28 -- at one point. Cora recently revealed he thought the Indians were the team to beat in the American League. But the Indians cooled at precisely the wrong time -- Corey Kluber, ordinarily the most dependable of starting pitchers, gave the Indians a total of just four innings in his two starts and their season was over in five games, courtesy of the New York Yankees.
It can happen.
Francona does not subscribe to the belief that the Indians' record-setting streak was counterproductive to the October cause.
"No,'' he said emphatically before the question could be posed. "We used everybody, nobody got extended. ... I know it's an easy to thing to point to when you look back on it, but, no.''
But the long winning streak that stretched from late August into mid-September was a clear reminder that dominance during the regular season doesn't always translate in October. It's a lesson these Red Sox should heed. Some -- Oakland A's executive Billy Beane, most notably -- believe that postseason results are random, with the outcome not always lining up with the better team. Francona won't go that far, but he does acknowledge that in a short series, there is a degree of luck involved.
As such, he believes in following instincts and crossing his fingers.
"You do what you think's right and then move on,'' said Francona. "As a manager, you can do everything right and you don't win. Or, you can do things that maybe you could have done better and your players cover it up.''
Francona had managed four years in Philadelphia without coming close to the playoffs, but when he finally got there in 2004, he was filled with an almost strange sense of calm.
"I loved it,'' he said, recalling the feeling, "because we had such good (advance) meetings. I remember being surprised at how relaxed I was because I felt so good about our preparation that it really helped me a ton.''
In a little more than five weeks, Cora will experience, for the first time, the differences that the post-season represent for a manager. If he and the Red Sox are lucky -- there's that word again -- he'll have the same sort of success that Francona experienced when he won each of his first three post-season series and, incredibly, seven of his first eight.
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