Baltimore Ace Throws Potential Final Regular Season Start in Orioles Uniform

The Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Corbin Burnes was brilliant in his final start of the season against the New York Yankees despite the team's loss on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

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The Baltimore Orioles are on their way to the postseason for the second straight season. However, one of the most significant pieces that helped get them there this season may be moving on once this year is over. 

On Thursday night, staff ace Corbin Burnes made his 32nd and most likely his final start before the playoffs in the Bronx against the New York Yankees. It may have well been his final regular-season start as a member of the Orioles. 

The biggest splash of the offseason before the 2024 MLB Season, the Orioles made some intentional improvements after winning 101 wins in 2023, clearly ahead of schedule. Although they picked up their first AL East division title since 2014 last season, they did not pick up a win in the postseason, as they were swept by the defending World Series champions, the Texas Rangers. 

According to MLB Insider Jon Heyman, he believes the Orioles ace could reach $300M in free agency this winter. Although Baltimore is under new ownership, it may be hard to compete with other large markets looking for a top pitcher with little to no injury history. 

Although Burnes had a rough month of August, he headed into his final start on Thursday, throwing a 1.20 ERA over his last five starts. He was brilliant once again for the Brandon Hyde, the Baltimore skipper as he seems more than prepared for the postseason.

Burnes started his night off with a strikeout on a wicked slider against Gleyber Torres. He immediately followed that with another strikeout to Juan Soto and completed bringing down the side with a nasty cutter to Aaron Judge. Three straight strikeouts to begin the game was exactly what he was looking for. 

His only blunder came in the following inning when he gave up a home runin the 2nd to Giancarlo Stanton.  Other than that one pitch, he was near perfect on the hill for the O’s.

He finished the night going five full innings. His only run allowed was from the Stanton homer, and only gave up two hits total in his outing. He struckout nine Yankees and only picked up one walk in the start. According to Baseball Savant, he picked up 16 Whiffs and had  a tremedous CSW of 39%.

Burnes picked up one of the most undeserving losses of the season on Thursday night as the Baltimore bullpen fell apart to allow the Yankees to clinch the AL East division with a 10-1 victory. 

The Orioles are set to play game one of the AL Wildcard, which begins on Tuesday. If they wish to Start Burnes in the opening game of the postseason, he would be on four days' rest, something he has done eight times this year. 

The better he does in the postseason, the bigger the benjamins are for the four-time All-Star, and the less likely a team like Baltimore will find space for him in their budget.