Now less than three weeks remain in the 2026 MLB regular season, which seems crazy to me, and every game takes on added importance for playoff hopefuls. The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of those, and they will see the season debut of former NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes tonight in Kansas City off major surgery. That's unquestionably the biggest pitching player news around the majors Tuesday, and it's a 7:40 ET first pitch.
It would have been the biggest story in MLB overall tonight, but Aaron Judge is returning for the Yankees. Bet $5+ on any of Tuesday's games and get $200 in bonus bets when you bet at DraftKings Sportsbook: I will never understand why teams pay such outrageous contracts on starting pitchers when they are such a massive injury risk, but in December 2024 the Snakes gave the free-agent Burnes a six-year $210 million contract. That was the richest deal in team history and actually includes an opt-out clause after this season, but there's no chance Burnes exercises that now.
That contract was mostly praised around the majors because Burnes had been so good in his only season with Baltimore in finishing fifth in the AL Cy Young voting (he won the NL version in 2021 with Milwaukee) and was square in his prime. But all Arizona has gotten out of Burnes was 11 regular-season starts last year (3-2, 2.66 ERA) before Tommy John surgery. The expectation was that Burnes would have been back well before now, but he suffered a shoulder setback with a strain in June 2026.
At that point, he had been throwing bullpen sessions with the goal of returning to the rotation in July. Fans can try MLB betting on the best sports betting apps and get bonuses. The SportsLine Projection Model also has picks on games like Diamondbacks-Royals from its 10,000 simulations, and our experts also offer insights on games every day.
DraftKings SGP price: +128 (subject to change) Arizona needs all the help it can get right now to earn a wild-card spot, and apparently that's why the team only asked Burnes to make one minor-league rehab start. He threw two perfect innings in late August and his fastball was around 92-93 mph. Burnes, who then pitched about three innings last Thursday in a bridge camp game on a back field at Angels camp, is expected to be limited to about 60 pitches tonight.
That means he surely won't qualify for a win but should now be in line to make four starts, including Tuesday, before the end of the regular season. "It was good to get out there and get the pitches that we want to and everything," Burnes said. "The mark was to get to 50 at least, so we can go 60 to 65 next time.
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