By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer
Alex Cora was fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox over the weekend.
That news could have come from any of three major markets.
The Red Sox actually took two of three at Baltimore, but they’re still in last place in their division at 11-17. The New York Mets have been even worse, scoring one run Sunday while getting swept in a home doubleheader against lowly Colorado. The Mets have lost 15 of 17 to fall to 9-19.
And they actually have company in the NL East cellar, because the Philadelphia Phillies have dropped 11 of 12 and have the same 9-19 record.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was still employed as of Sunday night, and so was Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson. And all three of these big-market teams can take solace in the notion that it’s hard to play your way out of contention before the end of April — if you have enough talent to recover.
Right now, FanGraphs still gives the Red Sox a 34% chance of making the playoffs, and the Phillies and Mets each a 33% chance. That means there’s a decent shot one of those three teams will turn it around and reach the postseason.
But so far this season has been dire for each of them. The Mets and Phillies have the two worst run differentials in baseball, and New York will be without shortstop Francisco Lindor for at least a few weeks because of a calf injury. That won’t help an offense that has scored the fewest runs in baseball.
Ace Zack Wheeler finally made his 2026 debut for Philadelphia on Saturday, and the Phillies snapped a 10-game skid, but a loss Sunday dropped them to 10 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta.
The Red Sox are a little closer to first place, trailing the Yankees by only seven, but their run differential (minus-11) looks tolerable only because of a 17-1 win Saturday in which the Orioles brought in a position player to pitch during a 10-run ninth inning.
The next month is critical for these three teams. If they keep playing like this through Memorial Day, then it really might be too late to come back.
Trivia time
Both the lowest batting average in the National League and the highest ERA — among qualifying players — belong to members of the Phillies. Who are they?
Unfriendly schedule
The Milwaukee Brewers had to face each of last year’s Cy Young Award winners in back-to-back games Thursday and Friday. Tarik Skubal took the mound for Detroit against Milwaukee, and the Tigers eventually won 5-4 on a home run by Spencer Torkelson. Then Paul Skenes took a perfect game into the seventh against the Brewers in a game Pittsburgh won 6-0.
Slugfests
The most surprising pitchers’ duel of the week may have occurred Sunday, when the Nationals and White Sox played nine scoreless innings before Washington won 2-1 in 10. The Nationals are averaging 5.38 runs per game, the fourth-most in the major leagues. They’ve allowed 5.9, the second-most in baseball. Washington was actually leading the majors in both runs scored and runs allowed entering Wednesday’s action.
The pitching was expected to be bad. The offense has made the team watchable thanks to James Wood (10 homers), CJ Abrams (.897 OPS) and a good start from Joey Wiemer (.320 average).
In 14 of Washington’s 29 games, at least one team has scored eight runs.
Performance of the week
Milwaukee’s Kyle Harrison struck out 12 in six one-hit innings in Sunday’s 5-0 win over Pittsburgh. That prevented the Pirates from sweeping a series at Milwaukee for the first time since 2016.
Comeback of the week
Kansas City was down by three with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth before rallying to tie it Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals eventually won 11-9 in 10 innings.
The Angels actually led 6-0 in the fifth, and it was 8-5 in the ninth before a triple by Vinnie Pasquantino, an RBI single by Salvador Perez and a two-run homer by Jac Caglianone sent the game to extra innings. Kansas City’s win probability had been 0.5%, according to Baseball Savant.
The Royals were down to their last out again in the 10th when Lane Thomas’ three-run homer won it.
Trivia answer
Alec Bohm is batting .143, and Jesús Luzardo has a 6.91 ERA.
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