ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Patrick Corbin experienced both the best and basement of pitching, just years apart. He was a five-WAR starter in 2019, earning Cy Young votes and lifting a team to a World Series title. Two seasons later, he led MLB in losses and began years of struggle.
“It wasn’t fun going out there every day,” Corbin told The Athletic, “kind of getting kicked around.”
Corbin spent his final five seasons with the Washington Nationals, after winning the 2019 title, as arguably baseball’s worst starting pitcher. It sucked, he said. Now, with that era of his career long over, Corbin has found new life. He won’t likely win the Cy Young or twirl key innings in the World Series, but the 36-year-old has become exactly what Toronto’s injured-riddled rotation needs.
“He’s been a real breath of fresh air for us,” manager John Schneider said.
Max Scherzer stood in the dugout beside Nationals manager Davey Martinez in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series. Scherzer, after five innings as Washington’s starter, was relegated to spectator, watching Corbin carve through relief innings in the sixth and seventh. He turned to his skipper, with six outs separating Washington from the championship, and asked who would handle the next inning.
“It was decision time,” Scherzer said.
The answer, Scherzer recalled, was obvious. Corbin would continue.
“We both nod our heads, like he’s going,” Scherzer said. “Sure enough, he goes out there in the eighth, pitches well in the eighth and the rest is history.”
That was the peak for Corbin, who twirled three scoreless innings of relief for Washington that day, taking the baton from Scherzer and handing it to Daniel Hudson to close out the ninth. He stood on the field after the outing, with a World Champions hat on his head and a beaming smile on his face. The first season of a six-year, $140 million contract was the ultimate success.
The next year, Corbin’s ERA jumped from 3.25 to 4.66. He never posted an ERA under 5.20 in the four seasons that followed and was charged with 63 losses from 2021 through 2024, 19 more than any other starter. As Washington tore down a championship team, trading stars for prospects and letting core pieces walk in free agency, Corbin’s effectiveness evaporated.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Corbin said. “It wasn’t how I saw it, from winning a World Series to then kind of dumping everybody two years after.”
As the lefty’s contract expired after 2024, he could’ve walked away. His ERA certainly suggested it was maybe the end. Some players, with the big contract banked and a ring on the mantle, would’ve called it a career at 34 years old. But Corbin never considered retirement.
“I felt like I could still pitch,” he said. “I know the numbers weren’t there at times. I had some games here and there, but I just felt like starting fresh somewhere else on a team that was ready to win now.”
Instead, he chose a new chapter with Texas. Joining the Rangers late in spring last year, he made 31 outings with a 4.40 ERA — a return to respectability. Now with the Jays, his mid-30s renaissance continues.
Corbin allowed two singles in his first three innings in Wednesday’s outing, following both with ground-ball double plays. He carved through five innings on just 60 pitches, earning his second crack at the sixth inning in as many games. His season ERA, through six starts, is down to 3.60.
The lefty isn’t playing for $23 million anymore. Instead, he’s a $1 million mercenary patching a hole in Toronto’s rotation. The Jays aren’t expecting brilliance from Corbin, but his dull consistency is much appreciated. Cody Ponce is out for the year, José Berríos awaits results of a second MRI, Shane Bieber is still weeks from rehab games and Scherzer’s arm status is uncertain.
The Jays aren’t asking for 2019 Corbin. If they turn this slow start around and scratch back to October, they won’t likely turn to the lefty for three innings of relief in a win-or-die postseason game. But Corbin is proving he can still be a part of success. After years in baseball’s basement, he wants another crack at the peak.
“That’s why I still play,” Corbin said. “I want to have an opportunity at the playoffs again.”
Blue Jays swept in Tampa: ‘Get back to forming an identity’
Despite Corbin’s solid start Wednesday, Toronto’s offence let the club down for a third straight game. Ernie Clement threw his arm in the air, flashing frustration after an eighth-inning error led to the Rays’ final run in a 3-0 victory and a three-game sweep.
The Jays’ lineup has shown signs of life, scoring 11 runs against the Twins on May 2 and eight against the Red Sox a few days before that. But the scoring, for an offence that was near the top of baseball last year, has been sporadic at best.
Sure, George Springer just returned, and Addison Barger, recovered from ankle ailments, should be back Friday. But the injuries, Schneider said, are not a reasonable excuse. Too many games, the Jays find themselves with a low run total and a starting pitcher efficiently carving into the mid-innings.
“You got to just be relentless,” Schneider said. “You have to not try to do too much, then you get back to forming an identity, which I think we formed last year.”
The series loss was Toronto’s first since two defeats in Arizona in the middle of April, but the sweep still dropped them to 16-21. The Jays, after Wednesday’s game, sat 22nd in home runs, 23rd in OPS, 23rd in weighted runs created plus and 24th in runs scored. The reinforcements are coming, in Springer, Barger and eventually Alejandro Kirk. But really, Kevin Gausman said, Toronto’s path forward is simple.
“We just need to play a little bit better,” he said.