Rangers Boss Sees Players’ Pride in Playing in WBC as Winter Olympics End

Several Texas Rangers players are participating in the World Baseball Classic and manager Skip Schumaker sees they pride they have in playing for their countries.

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

SURPRISE, Ariz. —  To be clear, the World Baseball Classic is not the Winter Olympics, but it’s as close as baseball gets.

Sunday morning saw many Texas Rangers watching the gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada as they were preparing for workouts in advance of Sunday’s spring training game with the Colorado Rockies. The U.S. won the game, 2-1, in overtime, which meant two Rangers were particularly down — pitcher coach Jordan Tiegs and pitcher Cal Quantrill, who are both from Canada.

Tiegs, manager Skip Schumaker said, has been particularly Canadian this week.

If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.

“Jordan has worn a full-blown Canadian hockey jersey every time they’ve played this week,” Schumaker said. “So, he kind of put it on himself. He’s even wearing it during curling.”

Schumaker was supposed to be the bench coach for Team USA in the WBC before he took the Rangers job. Now it’s former Rangers star Chris Young. Schumaker laments not being a part of it, but he has watched his players connect to preparing to be part of the tournament next month.

Skip Schumaker on WBC

Texas Rangers left fielder Alejandro Osuna. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Schumaker played for Team USA as he played for a team that helped it qualify for the 2008 Olympics. He said his son just completed playing for Team USA in Japan. So, he gets why those players want the chance to play in the WBC.

“It’s a time where guys can compete against one another and be proud of where they come from and represent their country,” Schumaker said. “So, it was a lot of fun in the clubhouse today.”

The Rangers have several players that will participate in the WBC next month but none on Team USA. The list includes Austin Bergner (Colombia), Alexis Díaz and Ricardo Velez (Puerto Rico), Robert Garcia and Alejandro Osuna (Mexico), Daniel Missaki (Brazil), Cal Quantrill (Canada), along with Blake Townsend and Kai Wynyard (Australia).

Diaz and Wynyard are part of their country’s designated pitching pools. Nabil Crismatt was supposed to throw for Colombia, but an elbow injury has shut him down.

When Schumaker was the manager for the Miami Marlins he went to a couple of WBC games as a fan at loanDepot Park, which hosted pool play along with the championship game in 2023 between the USA and Japan. He said the atmosphere for those games is different.

“It was sold out,” Schumaker said. “I mean it was unbelievable. The passion that everyone has for their particular country, where they grew up is pretty special. So, yeah, watching the Olympics was pretty fun this morning.”

WBC exhibition games start on March 3, with the Rangers hosting Team Brazil on March 4. Pool play begins on March 5 in Tokyo.

---