Chase Burns set for Sunday Night Baseball start vs. Cubs at Wrigley Field

Chase Burns is scheduled to start for the Cincinnati Reds against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday Night Baseball, giving him his third opportunity at win No. 15 and placing the right-hander on a national stage. First pitch is set for 7:20 p.m. ET on NBC, according to MLB’s team report from the Reds.

The matchup matters beyond the lights at Wrigley Field because it gives Burns another public-facing chance to demonstrate that his role in the Reds’ rotation can translate into late-season outcomes. For a pitcher, each start functions as both a performance test and a workload checkpoint, especially when the calendar tightens and teams begin to lean more heavily on their most trusted innings-eaters.

This will mark Burns’ third attempt to reach the specific benchmark of win No. 15, a figure that is often tracked by clubs and followers as a shorthand for a pitcher’s season body of work. While wins are not purely a pitcher-controlled stat, the repeated mention of the milestone in the Reds’ preview underscores how central this game is to his personal storyline at this point in the year.

The setting adds another layer. Wrigley Field is one of MLB’s most distinctive parks, and games there tend to carry a different rhythm for both hitters and pitchers. For starters like Burns, the environment can influence pacing decisions and command patterns, especially early, when adjustments to live-ball conditions matter most.

The Cubs, meanwhile, present the kind of challenge teams circle in advance: a storied opponent with a long history of competitive games at their home park. A Sunday night start against Chicago offers Burns a chance to measure himself against a lineup that, like most in the league, is built to challenge pitchers through different approaches and game-state swings.

From the Reds’ perspective, the choice of Burns for a nationally televised game indicates confidence in the plan to keep him in the rotation pattern that has brought him to this point in the win total chase. It also affects how fans and analysts will evaluate the Reds’ late-season pitching balance, because a high-visibility outing can shape the narrative around how a team intends to manage its most important arms.

The next thing to watch is how Burns navigates the early innings against a patient, adjustment-focused home opponent. For this start to carry maximum value, his command and pitch-shape consistency will matter as much as any single result in the standings, since the Reds will likely be looking for repeatable innings rather than one isolated highlight.

With first pitch on NBC scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET, attention will also quickly move from the personal win-milestone angle to the broader game details that decide these matchups: which starter sets the tone, how long the bullpen can stay intact, and whether Cincinnati can turn quality at-bats into sustained pressure at Wrigley. Burns’ outing will serve as the centerpiece for that storyline on Sunday night.