Alex Cora was destined to manage a Major League Baseball team. Throughout his 14-year playing career, his teammates and coaches spoke glowingly of his clubhouse presence and baseball smarts. Sure enough, the Boston Red Sox — one of his former teams — hired Cora as their manager this past offseason after he spent one year as the bench coach for the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros. On Tuesday, Cora and the Red Sox — who won 108 games this season and defeated the New York Yankees and the Astros in convincing fashion in the AL Division Series and AL Championship Series, respectively — will begin the last leg of their title pursuit, when they face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who advanced to the World Series after a tough back-and-forth NL Championship Series with the Milwaukee Brewers.