Dave Portnoy has a 103-degree fever but it’s the Red Sox that are making him sick to his stomach.
The Barstool Sports founder slammed the Red Sox — and owner John Henry — for their terrible showing in the wild-card series, where they were dominated by the Yankees in a two-game sweep.
“First of all, if you can’t tell [I have like] a 103 fever,” a nasally Portnoy said in a social media post. “I’m sick as a dog so it half felt like a dream watching the game. I’m fighting to stay awake; I’m on meds. I could wake up in a week and not even know that they played this series.”
Boston was blown out in both games, culminating in a 9-2 defeat in the Bronx in Game 2, as Yankees starters Cam Schlittler and Max Fried dominated the Boston lineup, which mustered just two total runs.
Portnoy took aim at Red Sox owner John Henry after the poor showing.
“The Red Sox can’t score. Their lineup and they were awful in September, but this is what John Henry wants,” Portnoy said while referencing the the team owner, who also is the principal owner of Liverpool Football Club, co-owner of RFK Racing and also owns the Boston Globe.
“He wants to be just competitive enough to make the playoffs but not really a threat to win the World Series. They were underperforming at the beginning of the year. They go on a run, but they are built to be a fringe playoff team. Not compete for the division; a fringe playoff team that gets bounced quickly, which they do. They could play the Yankees a 100 times and they will lose 100 times.”
Henry and the Red Sox, who are also led by top baseball executive Craig Breslow, have made a slew of bizarre decisions in recent years, included trading Rafael Devers to the Giants in favor of Alex Bregman and then letting Bregman walk in free agency with no clear replacement.
“After all is said and done on this Sox season, they are exactly who we thought they were,” Portnoy added. “John Henry doesn’t want to spend money to compete to win championships anymore. They want to be a borderline playoff team that keeps seats filled, and if they make the postseason, they will be there for a cup of coffee.”
Boston mustered just seven hits in the series against the Bronx Bombers, who made light work of the Red Sox and battered their bullpen in both games.
At the trade deadline, Boston traded a massive haul for Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, who hit just .222 after being traded to Boston.
At the time, baseball trade value models called it the worst trade for any buying team at the deadline and said the three prospects were worth more than what the Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal.
The Red Sox head into an offseason with little offensive talent in the free agent market, although they haven’t been active in that pool much in recent years anyway.
