{"id":495771,"date":"2026-02-24T07:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495771\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:02:11","slug":"tarik-skubal-to-make-one-start-for-usa-at-wbc-before-returning-to-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495771\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal to make one start for USA at WBC before returning to Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKELAND, Fla. \u2014 Detroit Tigers<\/a> ace\u00a0Tarik Skubal<\/a>\u00a0plans to make only one start for the United States in the\u00a0World Baseball Classic,\u00a0regardless of how far Team USA advances.<\/p>\n

The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner wants to remain on a regular spring training regimen and ramp up for opening day mostly with the Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I didn\u2019t announce it (sooner) was I wanted to keep the momentum on the WBC, but I\u2019m just making one start and then I\u2019ll stick around for a few games,” Skubal told reporters Monday in Florida. “I haven\u2019t determined what games I\u2019m going to watch. If they go to the finals, I think I\u2019m going to try and lobby to just go watch and be with the guys. But yeah, I\u2019m just making one start and getting back on track and getting back to here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal made his first Grapefruit League start Monday, striking out four over two scoreless innings of two-hit ball in Detroit’s 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins. He is expected to pitch for the Tigers again Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays and then start for the U.S. late next week during WBC pool play in Houston.<\/p>\n

After that, the rest of his outings this spring will come in a Detroit uniform, he said.<\/p>\n

\"WatchWatch the World Baseball Classic on Sportsnet <\/p>\n

The World Baseball Classic is back for its sixth edition, running from March 5-17 in Miami, Houston, San Juan and Tokyo. Catch all the action on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+. <\/p>\n

Broadcast schedule <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the best of both worlds. That was the communication I had with those guys,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cThere\u2019s some risk obviously, and I\u2019m trying to do both things, trying to pitch for Team USA, but also I understand I need to be here with these guys and get ready for the season. I think it\u2019s kind of the best of both worlds in that aspect, and I\u2019m grateful they took me in that capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal, who can become a free agent in the fall, is scheduled to start Detroit’s season opener March 26 in San Diego. The 29-year-old left-hander won his salary arbitration hearing with the Tigers this month and will be paid $32 million this season instead of the team\u2019s $19 million offer.<\/p>\n

The WBC\u00a0runs from March 5-17\u00a0in Tokyo, Houston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Miami, where the final will be played for the second straight time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole point of me doing the WBC was to make sure that I could stay on a normal workload of a spring training regimen and be able to make a start for Team USA and then come back here and continue my normal routine to get ready for opening day,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI think everything\u2019s going to stay the same. I\u2019m not ramping up earlier than I need to. I don\u2019t want that narrative out there. I\u2019m treating this as I\u2019m going to Team USA, making a start, coming back to Lakeland and getting ready to go for opening day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal, a two-time All-Star, has won the past two AL Cy Young Awards and ERA titles. He was 13-6 with a career-best 2.21 ERA in 31 starts last season, striking out 241 and walking 33 in 195 1\/3 innings. His 0.891 WHIP topped qualified pitchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKELAND, Fla. \u2014 Detroit Tigers ace\u00a0Tarik Skubal\u00a0plans to make only one start for the United States in the\u00a0World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-495771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}