“Nobody believed in us!”
It’s the rallying cry of coaches and players across every sport at every level. The perfect encapsulation of the mindset they believe they need to maintain is a chip on their shoulder as they attempt to prove everyone wrong and silence the doubters.
Never mind if it’s true or not. And honestly, most of the time, it’s not. We’ve seen countless examples, from Travis Kelce to the San Francisco 49ers, Oregon football, Duke basketball, and Kirby Smart. Heck, Dabo Swinney practically turned it into an art form.
Now it’s Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s turn. The Red Sox, who admittedly seemed destined to miss the playoffs just a few months back, completed an epic late-season run to clinch a playoff berth Friday night, returning to the postseason for the first time in four years.
Afterward, Cora called out all the haters and doubters.
Red Sox’ Alex Cora: “Let’s be honest, nobody thought we were gonna make it to October (when the season started). Whoever says that, ‘Yeah, we were a playoff team,’ that’s fucking bullshit, to be honest with you. Nobody thought we were gonna make it to October. It was New York. It…
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) September 27, 2025
“Let’s be honest, nobody thought we were gonna make it to October (when the season started). Whoever says that, ‘Yeah, we were a playoff team,’ that’s f*cking bullsh*t, to be honest with you,” said Cora, via Red Sox beat reporter Christopher Smith. “Nobody thought we were gonna make it to October. It was New York. It was Baltimore, it was Toronto, you know, and we believed we were going to play in October. We set our standards every single day. And we hit our standards.”
Now, if you want to make the case that many people didn’t think the Red Sox would make the playoffs back when they were five games under .500 in early June, you could. But to say that no one thought Boston would make the playoffs before the 2025 MLB season is, in Cora’s own words, “f*cking bullsh*t.”
In fact, looking through all the notable MLB preseason predictions, the Red Sox winning the American League East was among the most common.
ESPN picked the Sox to win the division and play in the World Series.
MLB.com voters picked the Sox to win the AL East and play in the World Series.
MassLive’s baseball writers and reporters all picked the Red Sox to make the playoffs.
Every CBS Sports MLB contributor picked the Sox to make the playoffs,
The Athletic had the Red Sox at No. 6 in their Preseason Power Rankings.
The Athletic’s Keith Law picked them to win the AL East and make the World Series.
You get the point.
Of course, this is all irrelevant. If Cora and the Red Sox want to play the “nobody believed in us” card, they are certainly free to do so. Lord knows many a successful coach, player, or team has trotted it out before to great success, even if it wasn’t even remotely true.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.