It took Corbin Burnes less than half a season to rival Orioles legend in history books

Imagine how good the Milwaukee Brewers would be this year if they kept Corbin Burnes. While they are flourishing atop the NL Central standings, the Baltimore Orioles are looking very menacing over in the AL East. Although they trail the rival New York Yankees by a few games, they have been given one great start after another by the 29-year-old right-hander. It is literally a quality start every single time.

While I am never going to be one who cares about numbers, I do appreciate the notion of a quality start. In a day and age where starters pitch less and less and less, going six innings and allowing three or fewer earned runs is a great way to ensure your team's success. In Burnes' last nine outings, all of which have been quality starts, the most since Erik Bedard hit that mark way back in 2007.

Even more impressive, Burnes is within striking distance of the Orioles' franchise record. Although he just became the 11th pitcher to record nine straight quality starts in an Orioles uniform, he is three away from tying the legendary Jim Palmer with 12 from his 1975 season. To date, Palmer is arguably the greatest pitcher in Orioles history, although I really loved me some Mike Mussina back in the day.

Burnes is one of the many reasons Baltimore can win it all for the first time since Palmer's last in 1983.

At 7-2 on the year with a 2.08 ERA, you can safely say that Burnes is thriving pitching for Baltimore.

Corbin Burnes is pitching like Jim Palmer for the Baltimore Orioles

There may only be a handful of teams who can realistically win the World Series this year. As I begin to come to grips with the fact that my Atlanta Braves are an even bigger disappointment than my Atlanta Falcons, I respect what Baltimore is doing over there in the Charm City. Being in second place to those damn Yankees is probably not ideal. Then again, a first-round bye is a death sentence in the postseason...

As long as the Orioles maintain a certain level of excellence and get hot at the right time, we could see the first World Series parade in Baltimore since Cal Ripken had brown hair. The last time the Orioles won a World Series, the Colts still played in Baltimore. John Elway was still at Stanford, Dan Marino was still at Pitt and Todd Blackledge was a national champion playing over at Penn State.

What I am getting at is this. The addition of Burnes to the Baltimore rotation is the type of acquisition that cuts through in a national sense. Most casual baseball fans know the Orioles are good, but may have forgotten that Burnes no longer pitches in Milwaukee. While the Brewers seem to be doing just fine, Baltimore has the ace pitcher that is necessary to go the distance with anyone come October.

You are looking at one of the best pitchers in baseball pitching truly unencumbered every fifth day.