Chase Burns leads the Reds into series against Los Angeles Dodgers

You read the headline. You clicked on it – that’s why you’re reading this.

Chase Burns will lead the Cincinnati Reds into Monday night’s series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. What we don’t yet know, though, is just how long he’ll be out there.

Monday will mark the first start of Burns’ spectacular 2026 season where he, us, them, and everyone will know he’s on a pitch count. It has been revealed that lefty Brandon Williamson is going to serve as a ‘piggyback’ starter with Burns, though we don’t know if that will come after 50 pitches, 70 pitches, 90 pitches, or what have you.

If I had to guess, I’d say it’ll be something close to 70 pitches for Burns tonight. All pitches are not created equal, of course, and the more high-leverage situations the Dodgers put him in early will clearly impact how much deeper he’s tasked with going. If he’s breezing, though, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get to 70 and even finish an inning if that’s what presents itself.

As for Williamson, it will be another chance for him to show on a scheduled, multi-inning platform that he’s back from the litany of surgeries that robbed him of all of 2025 and most of 2026. His most recent outing showed promise (5.1 IP, 3 ER), and with Hunter Greene likely out for all of 2027 there’s a clear need for another quality starting pitcher on which the Reds can depend. This is the second big chance for B-Willy to show he can be just that.

It’s a late west coast start, obviously, with first pitch set for 9:10 PM ET.

Here’s how the Reds will line up to start: