Marlins Announce Sandy Alcantara's World Baseball Classic Plans
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The 2026 World Baseball Classic is scheduled to get underway this week and the Miami Marlins have nearly a dozen players expected to play in it. One of those players is ace right-hander Sandy Alcantara.
He'll be joined by teammate Agustín Ramírez, playing for the Dominican Republic when things get underway. They will get underway in Miami on Friday night against Nicaragua. They will close out pool play on March 11 in Miami and according to Marlins manager Clayton McCullough, that's when Alcantara will make his WBC debut.
Sandy Alcantara Will Pitch on March 11 in the World Baseball Classic
McCullough said on Tuesday that Alcantara will pitch against Venezuela and will be limited to about 65 pitches. As for pitching later on in the WBC, McCullough said that Miami and Alcantara “will cross that bridge when we get there”, according to Kevin Barral of Fish on First.
You can bet that McCullough and Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix will have a lot of eyes on Alcantara's start next Wednesday. If that ends up being the only game that Alcantara pitches in, the Dominican Republic still has a good shot to win the WBC for the first time since 2013. Their rotation is deep behind the 2022 Cy Young Award winner, with the likes of Christopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies and Brayan Bello of the Boston Red Sox.
If Alcantara makes another start or an appearance in the tournament, then it would be early enough that he would still be in line to be the Opening Day starter against the Colorado Rockies on March 27 at home. If he doesn't pitch again, it wouldn't be the worst thing for the Marlins.
After Bendix traded pitchers Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs and Ryan Weathers to the New York Yankees in January, that puts more pressure on Alcantara to stay healthy and at the top of McCullough's rotation this season. They need him to get through the WBC healthy before Opening Day.
There are questions as to just how the Marlins' starting rotation behind Alcantara will end up shaking out for Opening Day. Eury Pérez, Braxton Garrett, Max Meyer and Chris Paddack are projected to follow him, according to Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report.
Janson Junk is someone who could steal a rotation spot, but given that Miami signed Paddack to a one-year, $4 million contract, he'll likely get a shot at the No. 5 slot. Regardless, Alcantara is getting at least one start at the WBC, with decisions to be made later in the tournament if it gets to that point.
