{"id":488960,"date":"2026-02-25T05:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T05:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488960\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T05:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T05:04:11","slug":"paul-skenes-will-make-multiple-starts-in-2026-wbc-with-a-caveat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488960\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Skenes will make multiple starts in 2026 WBC \u2014 with a caveat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Americans are only getting one World Baseball Classic start from one Cy Young Award winner, but could get multiple from another. <\/p>\n

Paul Skenes told MLB insider Ken Rosenthal<\/a> that he expects to make one start for Team USA in pool play and possibly another if the team advances in the international tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe win, we go as far as we should, I\u2019ll pitch again in the tournament,\u201d Skenes said.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Skenes reacts during the Pirates\u2019 win over the Reds on Sept. 24, 2025 in Cincinnati. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 2025 National League Cy Young winner\u2019s decision stands in contrast to left-handed Tarik Skubal, who said Monday he will make one outing against Great Britain<\/a> on March 7 before returning to spring training with the Tigers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to do both things, trying to pitch for Team USA but I understand the need to be here with these guys and get ready for the season,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI 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, the two-time reigning Cy Young winner in the American League, said he would like to return to the team to watch \u2014 if the Americans reach the final round.<\/p>\n

Giants ace Logan Webb said Tuesday that he plans to stick it out throughout the WBC, and while he will be there for the entirety of the tournament, said he understands why Skubal, an impending free agent, is deciding to pitch just once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not in his shoes,\u201d Webb said, according to MLB.com<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve got three years left on my contract. He doesn\u2019t. He has one year and then he\u2019s a free agent. I get the thought of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghPirates starter Paul Skenes watches workouts during a spring training practice on Feb. 14, 2026, in Bradenton, Fla. AP<\/p>\n

In Skenes, Team USA will have arguably the best right-hander in baseball, who led MLB in ERA (1.97) and FIP (2.36) with an NL-best 0.948 WHIP last season. <\/p>\n

The Americans also will have, on a star-studded roster, retired Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw, who announced he\u2019ll make an appearance<\/a> in what will likely be his final chapter as a pitcher.<\/p>\n

There will also be a New York contingent on the staff, with Mets starters Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean and Yankees reliever David Bednar all on the roster.<\/p>\n

Team USA has exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies next week before kicking off pool play against Brazil on March 6 at Daikin Park in Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Americans are only getting one World Baseball Classic start from one Cy Young Award winner, but could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,10000,2240,99,4706,72364],"class_list":["post-488960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-paul-skenes","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-sports","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}