Tarik Skubal Makes Surprising Announcement Regarding Team USA Pitching Staff
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The 2026 World Baseball Classic is set to take place in March before next season's opening day, and the roster is starting to shape up quite nicely, with both position players and the pitching staff. There are guys like Pete Crow-Armstrong and Aaron Judge in the outfield to complement Kyle Schwarber as a designated hitter.
The pitching staff, however, especially the starting rotation, has easily emerged as the best the USA has ever had, as Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes had initially committed to represent his country. Surprisingly, Skenes will be joined by another Cy Young recipient who has won the award the last two years, Tarik Skubal.
Skubal is seemingly getting better and better each season (a terrifying thought for batters) as he is coming off his best yet. He finished the season with career bests in almost every major stat category.
- 241 Strikeouts (most)
- 2.21 ERA (lowest)
- .200 Opponent's Batting Average (trails only 2023 .199)
- 0.89 WHIP (lowest)
Current 2026 Roster
It is hard to draft up much of a better outfield than what has been assembled with PCA, Judge, and Corbin Carroll. Judge and Carroll both took home Silver Slugger Awards this year, while PCA was named a finalist as he had the best season of his very young career, where he also took home his first Gold Glove Award.
These three aren't the only ones who performed at elite levels this season, as the infield also has quite a resume. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., as well as catcher Cal Raleigh, both took home a Silver Slugger for their respective positions.
As of right now (per the official roster) the team is still short a first and third baseman, but this is starting to look like the ultimate dream team. Who can stop this group of guys, as the addition of Skubal makes this a near-perfect lineup?
Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who’s a free agent after the 2026 season, is a surprise entrant for the Team USA roster. Team USA easily will have their best pitching staff in their WBC history considering it already includes fellow Cy Young winner Paul Skenes.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 18, 2025
Team USA WBC Schedule
- 2026 World Baseball Classic: The main tournament runs March 5-17, 2026, with Team USA in Pool B. The MLB season will open about a week after the tournament concludes, with one game on Wednesday, March 25 (Giants vs. Yankees), and the official season for everyone else starting the following day.
Upcoming Exhibition Games:
- March 7, 2026: vs. Great Britain (8:00 p.m. ET).
- March 9, 2026: vs. Mexico (8:00 p.m. ET).
- March 10, 2026: vs. Italy (9:00 p.m. ET).
Fans will want to tune in to watch the possible 'Dream Team' likely dominate.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.