Corbin Burnes will try to rebound from his gruesome August by facing the worst team in modern MLB history.
It’s a funny thing. The Orioles are about to play against a team that is on pace to be the worst team in modern baseball history…and I’m terrified.
I mean, all the pressure in the world is on the Orioles in this series. If you’re a team that’s 31-107, you’ve got nothing left to lose except more games. Nobody expects anything from you. But if you’re a team that loses to the 31-107 team, then, I mean, how do you ever feel good about yourself again? How do you possibly feel confident that you’ll win games when it matters in October, against teams that are actually good?
What I’m saying is: don’t blow this, Orioles.
Today is a great opportunity for Corbin Burnes to shake off whatever weird affliction came over him in August, when he coughed up 28 runs in five starts (though “only” 21 earned runs, for a 7.36 ERA). Only once last month did Burnes manage to pitch six full innings, after he’d done so in 17 consecutive starts prior to August.
The O’s, half a game behind the Yankees, have a chance to move into a first-place tie, at least until the Yanks get underway at 8:05 tonight in Texas. The games aren’t played on paper, of course, but if the Orioles fail to do their part this afternoon, something will have gone very wrong.
Orioles lineup:
SS Gunnar Henderson
C Adley Rutschman
1B Ryan O’Hearn
DH Anthony Santander
LF Colton Cowser
CF Cedric Mullins
RF Austin Slater
2B Jackson Holliday
3B Emmanuel Rivera
RHP Corbin Burnes
Rivera, who played the hero in Friday’s win in Colorado, gets a rare start against a right-hander. I had thought that Coby Mayo would get the bulk of playing time in Ramón Urías’s absence, but Mayo is riding the pine after starting Sunday. Eloy Jiménez, too, is on the bench, denying him the opportunity to start against his longtime team.
White Sox lineup:
2B Nicky Lopez
DH Corey Julks
LF Andrew Benintendi
1B Gavin Sheets
C Korey Lee
RF Zach DeLoach
CF Dominic Fletcher
3B Miguel Vargas
SS Jacob Amaya
RHP Chris Flexen
If Burnes can’t return to form against the White Sox, then he never will. I mean, look at that lineup. I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable baseball fan and I still don’t recognize half those names. There’s not a single Chicago hitter who has even a .700 OPS. Their best hitter, Gavin Sheets (son of former Oriole Larry), is at .679. Five of them are below a .600 OPS.
Stop messing around, Corbin, and let’s take care of business today.