What It Means:

Burnett has been on the shelf since he got roughed up on July 30th, prompting the acquisition of J.A. Happ, who has been great with the Pirates.

The team has to be happy with what they've gotten out of Burnett this season. He holds a 3.55 xFIP with a stellar 53.2 ground-ball percentage at the age of 38. A starting trio of Burnett, Gerrit Cole, and Francisco Liriano would look pretty if the team could make it past the wild card game. Our algorithms currently give the Pirates 4.7 percent odds of winning the World Series.