2026 WBC: How Team USA built its best pitching staff ever - ESPN

NEW YORK — Wherever Paul Skenes finds himself, he rarely deviates from routine. So on a recent frigid Manhattan morning, Skenes, in town to receive his 2025 National League Cy Young Award, showed up at a small baseball facility, his suitcase filled with workout tools, to throw a bullpen session. Just feet away from the 23-year-old superstar, a group of young boys practiced on the other side of the netting.

Skenes will be in the city again in March, taking the mound on Opening Day at Citi Field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But his biggest starts of the year could actually come before that — in a different uniform.

Way back in May, Skenes was the second player to commit to play for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which kicks off next month. New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, a three-time American League MVP, declared first and was named the squad's captain for his first appearance in the event. But Skenes' inclusion initiated a significant breakthrough for Team USA from previous tournaments, when many of the best American starting pitchers, fearing potential injury from a quick buildup for intense games during spring training and discouraged by their clubs to take the risk, declined to participate.

«We wanted to set the tone with those two as our pillars to build the momentum, because if players are on board, it's a lot harder for [other] players to say no,» Team USA general manager Michael Hill said. «With Japan, the Japanese players participate. It's not a discussion. They say that they're playing and they go and play. The Dominican players, they say they're playing and they go and play. And I don't know if we had that exact dynamic in the past. So we were really intentional with how we started.»