Reds have been saying the exact opposite of this reckless Chase Burns' prediction

Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter recently dished out some bold predictions for the second half of the 2026 season, though most Cincinnati Reds fans will meet their crystal ball reading with a very healthy dose of skepticism. Reuter suggests that recently extended starter Chase Burns will throw a no-hitter before the regular season ends.

While it's nice to see a national pundit make a risky bet on one of the team's rising young stars, that "bold prediction" is just too far detached from the reality the Reds have been preaching.

Reds starter Chase Burns may have a no-hitter in his future, but not in 2026

This pessimism isn't meant to suggest that Burns can't throw a no-hitter. He's certainly got the talent, and his .205 expected batting average against (87th percentile league-wide) suggests that Reuter's bold prediction has some solid empirical evidence to support it.

The problem is that the Reds have been preaching for some time that Burns will eventually hit an innings limit this season. The fireballer set the benchmark at 109⅓ total frames last year, a total he's already nearing at the outset of the second half (102⅓). If the Reds fall further out of the National League playoff picture prior to the trade deadline, then it won't make sense for them to push the young starter beyond his limits in a lost effort.

That's especially true now that the 23-year-old right-hander has signed a seven-year extension; the Reds have to protect their nine-figure investment as best they can. Veteran manager Terry Francona won't be shy about pulling Burns from a start if it's in the best interest of the franchise no matter what the historical context is.

That's not just true of Cincinnati, either. Pitch counts, innings limits, and just plain ole cautious management seem to rule to the day in baseball nowadays. It was only earlier this month that the Miami Marlins yanked Eury Pérez after seven perfect innings and 92 total pitches because he was still fresh off the injured list. You can debate the merits of that all you want — pitching injuries are seemingly impossible to prevent anyway — but it's the way things work in today's game.

We shouldn't put it past Burns to toss an impossibly efficient shutout (colloquially called a "Maddux"), which perhaps is his lone pathway to becoming the first Reds pitcher to toss a no-no since Wade Miley in 2021. More realistically, that's a prediction better served for later in his career, when his pitch counts won't be watched like a hawk by everyone inside the organization.

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