Carlos Mendoza Gives Stance on Nolan McLean's WBC Final Start

New York Mets rookie ace Nolan McLean is starting for Team USA in the final of the 2026 World Baseball Classic on March 17.

This will be McLean's second World Baseball Classic appearance for Team USA. He got the start against Team Italy on March 10 and gave up 3 earned runs on 2 hits (both of which were home runs), 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts on 3 innings pitched. Team USA ultimately lost this game by a score of 8-6, which made McLean the losing pitcher.

However, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa was clearly not dissuaded from this first WBC outing by McLean, given that he's getting the ball against Venezuela on Tuesday in hopes of bringing the USA squad its first World Baseball Classic championship since 2017.

United States starting pitcher Nolan McLean | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Carlos Mendoza Gets Honest About Nolan McLean's WBC Final Start

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has spoken several times about his ace getting the ball for Team USA with these stakes.

“I have mixed feelings. I’m not gonna lie," Mendoza said about McLean starting against the WBC final, per a March 16 article from Joseph Staszewski and Dan Martin of The New York Post.

“You’re representing your country and you’ve got the whole world watching you. In this case, he’s got ‘USA’ on his chest, playing with and against the best players. It’s going to be intense. That doesn’t mean the intensity is not the same at the big league level. The big leagues are the big leagues, but this is something different. It’ll be definitely different than what he experienced last year," Mendoza added.

“As far as him pitching in that environment, he’s wired, he’s built for moments like that based on what we saw last year,” he said. “I’ve been around him and said the moment is never too big for him. It’ll be fun and I’ll be watching.”

New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Mendoza is Venezuelan, which makes his rooting interest in this same intrigue. But he set the record straight about who he wants to win when speaking with the media on March 17.

"Best way to put it is, I'm rooting for, obviously, Venezuela. But with Nolan pitching, I want him to get his pitch count where he needs to be, and then after he comes out of the game, we want for Venezuela to put a rally on," Mendoza said with a smile, per an X post from SNY.

Who is Carlos Mendoza rooting for in tonight's WBC Final?

"I'm rooting for obviously Venezuela...but with Nolan pitching, I want him to get his pitch count where he needs to be, and then when he comes out of the game for Venezuela to put a rally on" pic.twitter.com/eQKD1SAtVZ
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 17, 2026

The entire baseball world will be watching McLean on Tuesday night.

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