Red Sox Avoid COVID Scare With Matt Barnes

Boston Red Sox nation held their breath when they learned All-Star reliever Matt Barnes was headed to the COVID-19 IL with virus-like symptoms on Tuesday. However, that news has quickly taken a positive turn.

On Tuesday night, Red Sox beat reporter Chris Cotillo reported that Barnes tested negative for COVID-19. Because his initial placement on the COVID-19 IL was not from a positive test result, but rather symptoms, there's no league requirement for two negative test results.

Matt Barnes Injury Update

Barnes could be activated prior to Wednesday's game against the Detroit Tigers.

Boston looks to improve upon an average record of baseball over the past month. After going 18-10 in the month of June and building an AL East division lead of 4.5 games, Boston is just 13-14 since July 1.

The Red Sox now sit 1.0 game back of the Tampa Bay Rays and in firm control of the first AL Wild Card spot. However, this team will need to halt its current slide down the stretch. Barnes will be a big part of that. The eight-year veteran earned his first All-Star appearance in 2021 while tossing to a 2.30 ERA and 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings through 43.0 innings pitched.

Currently, Boston owns +1600 odds to win the 2021 World Series, according to the latest MLB odds on FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.