THE Baltimore Orioles have a fairly young core of offensive talent. Their top local talents all appeared as position players. So, as the Orioles looked to deal with their strong offensive core, they made an offseason trade to acquire ace Corbin Burnes.

Burnes was exactly that for the Orioles. In his lone season with the team, he made 32 starts, earning 15 wins with a 2.92 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. In the postseason, Burnes made one start where he played eight solid innings of one-run baseball in a 1–0 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Now, Burnes is a free agent and the Orioles are responsible for signing him. He will be Baltimore’s top priority this offseason, but if they miss out on him, they can’t afford for him to land with any of these three teams.

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The worst part about a team losing a starting pitcher is that almost every team in the league is going to go after them, especially when they’re as good as Corbin Burnes. Among the teams pursuing Burnes this offseason will be just about every team in the AL East along with the Orioles. One of these teams signing Burnes would be a worst-case scenario for Baltimore, as it would burden their roster with facing Burnes multiple times per season.

The first team that could haunt the Orioles by signing Burnes is Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays sold at the 2024 MLB trade deadline in an effort to shed their expiring contracts and reload for the 2025 season. Now that expiring contracts have been traded and prospects have been added , the Blue Jays will reload their roster with talent in free agency.

If Toronto lands Burnes, it will give them a solidified ace, allowing them to compete with any team in the world every five days. Toronto will buy heavily this winter and the arrival of Burnes would steal him from the Orioles, haunting Baltimore for years to come.

As noted above, the biggest nightmare scenario for the Orioles would be Burnes landing in the AL East. The New York Yankees already have a ton of pitchers competing for their rotation, while also chasing a historic Juan Soto extension, so they’re out. The Rays could sign him, but it wouldn’t exactly be a nightmare situation for the Orioles. All that remains is the Boston Red Soxwhich would be the worst possible team in the AL East for the Orioles to lose their ace to.

Boston is going to be very aggressive in free agency this offseason. They were just a few players away from being serious World Series contenders in 2025. Often, they are linked to free agents like Jack Flaherty or Max Fried. These two have a direct connection to Boston pitcher Lucas Giolito.

But if the Red Sox had a choice, they would want Burnes. And Boston has the money to acquire him if they get really aggressive.

Not only would Burnes landing in Boston put him in the Orioles’ division, it would add one of the best pitchers in the league to a very talented team. This would be one of the worst possible scenarios for Baltimore.

I debated whether this one should land at number one on the list or whether this team should not be on the list at all. This is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let me explain.

So obviously landing Burnes with the Dodgers would pretty much break baseball more than the Dodgers have already broken it. This is the worst-case scenario for everyone in the game, as well as the future of baseball. This would pair Burnes alongside Ohtani and Yamamoto for the next few years. And Burnes is apparently open to a move to Los Angeles because it would give him the money and chance to win he’s looking for.

But is it realistic? Could the Dodgers do it? Would the Dodgers do it?

My thought here is no. Los Angeles will focus more on reloading its roster with its own free agents like Blake Treinen, Walker Buehler, Teoscar Hernandez and Jack Flaherty. If they choose to re-sign all of their expired free agents, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be able to come up with $30-40 million per season to pay Burnes.

But this hypothetical idea is a nightmare for the league, not just the Orioles. If Burnes ends up in Dodger Blue, just give the 2025 World Series to Los Angeles.