The World Baseball Classic is coming in March of 2026 and Team USA has plans to not just win, but to DOMINATE everyone in their path.
I love the WBC. Some would say I love it more than the Olympics. I love rooting for players I normally cannot root for during the regular season and watching a mega-roster go to work. The offense that is being assembled for Team USA is historically insane, but the area that ended up dooming them in 2023 was pitching and Team USA refuses to let that happen again.
The pitching staff for Team USA received some insane support on December 18 as it was publicly announced that Tarik Skubal, Mason Miller, and Logan Webb would join the team for the tournament. These three find themselves in a rotation with Paul Skenes and some other young studs in Nolan McClean of the New York Mets and Joe Ryan of the Minnesota Twins. Clay Holmes is also on the roster and could receive some starts if Mason Miller settles into a long relief role for the squad.
I would hope that any fan of the game is overwhelmed with excitement after reading that last paragraph, but for anyone who has not fully processed what I wrote, I have no other option but to further reiterate who is in this rotation and show their most recent stats from 2025:
- *Paul Skenes: 187.2 IP – 216 K – 1.97 ERA – 0.948 WHIP, 217 ERA+
- *Tarik Skubal: 195.1 IP – 241 K – 2.21 ERA – 0.891 WHIP – 187 ERA+
- Joe Ryan: 171 IP – 194 K – 3.42 ERA – 1.035 WHIP – 125 ERA+
- Nolan McClean: 48 IP – 57 K – 2.06 ERA – 1.042 WHIP – 196 ERA+
- Mason Miller: 61.2 IP – 104 K – 2.63 ERA – 0.908 WHIP – 162 ERA+
- Logan Webb: 207 IP – 224 K – 3.22 ERA – 1.237 WHIP – 124 ERA+
- Clay Holmes: 165.2 IP – 129 K – 3.53 ERA – 1.304 WHIP – 114 ERA+
*BOLD = 2025 Cy Young Winner
Skubal and Skenes at the top of the rotation is the scariest possible 1-2 combination you could assemble on planet Earth. They are perfect and absolutely indestructible on the bump. Team USA has a massive advantage on all teams when these two are fresh and ready to go for them.
Joe Ryan and Nolan McClean make for a sick 3-4 punch in this rotation. These are two younger guys who have the ability to dominate hitters of all calibers. While Ryan has some more experience, McClean is still an eligible rookie for the 2026 season.
If you are unfamiliar with Nolan McClean, let his presence in a rotation like this speak for itself. He is FILTHY and has a slider that could kill. He is a flamethrowing and air bending phenom for the New York Mets and could be a massive addition for a Team USA squad that relied on Merrill Kelly to be their ace just a few years ago.
Logan Webb and Clay Holmes combining to be the #5 option in this rotation is insane. Both of these guys are more than capable of giving some quality innings and could each be a great contender to open some critical games for 3-4 innings before passing it off to the other one or even a guy like Mason Miller, who could continue being stretched out as a starter and tag-team some games with them. The three of these guys, and maybe even McClean too, can be used freely in games where Skenes and Skubal are resting up. Of Miller, Holmes and Webb, Mason Miller is the one to highlight here as he is unbelievable and now fresh off a great season that he split with the A’s and Padres. He gave up just 2 runs in 23.1 innings (0.77 ERA) and struck out 45 batters in a near flawless second half of baseball for San Diego.
Team USA went full-blown Thanos mode while assembling this rotation and they could do the same with the bullpen, which is still mostly a mystery aside from David Bednar. There is insane bullpen potential to choose from and with a rotation like this, recruitment should be incredibly easy.
The offense is also so historically amazing and hard to fathom. The following is a summary of who has committed thus far:
- C – Cal Raleigh/Will Smith
- 1B – ???
- 2B – Brice Turang
- 3B – Gunnar Henderson
- SS – Bobby Witt Jr.
- OF – Corbin Carroll
- OF – Pete Crow-Armstrong
- OF – Aaron Judge
- DH – Kyle Schwarber
This team, even without a first baseman, is unbelievably talented. Aaron Judge is the best player in the world, next to Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, and will be a consistent force in the lineup. He will likely be protected by Kyle Schwarber who is fresh off a 56 HR/132 RBI season or Gunnar Henderson who is a serious power threat and clutch hitter as well.
The lineup is loaded with potential leadoff hitters as Bobby Witt, Corbin Carroll and PCA are all some of the fastest baseball players in the world. It is difficult to imagine a lineup with Bobby Witt that does not have him leading it off however, as he is a serious 5-tool monster who can do immense damage with a guy like Aaron Judge behind him. He is a threat to go 30/30 or beyond every single season as he brings a devastating power/speed toolset to the table that few can match. Corbin Caroll and PCA are some of the few that CAN match it, however, so it would not shock me if we saw one of these guys lead off and Bobby jumps down to the #4 or #5 spot to stretch this lineup even more.
We also have Cal Raleigh here, who just finished off a 65 home run season and can slot himself behind Judge or Schwarber here and create one of the most intense power cores the world has ever seen. If the lineup starts with Corbin Caroll and then runs through Judge, Schwarber, Raleigh, Witt, Gunnar, and PCA, I do not see many pitchers that can neutralize that. Japan will always be the biggest threat for that, but I think Team USA has done the best they can to make that task impossible.
This is also an incomplete look at the roster which still needs a First Baseman and can add some impressive depth to the bench as well. Will Smith is one of the best catchers in the league and is casually on the bench for this team right now, so we could see some similar cases as more guys join the cause. For first base, my mind instantly jumps to Pete Alonso as he was there for the last WBC and loved participating in it. Imagine that power core I referred to earlier and now add Pete Alonso to it. The potential is limitless for this squad and it may be the best chance we have to win it all since 2017.
It cannot come soon enough and you should all be excited for it too.
USA! USA! USA!
Side note, if you have not noticed, the number of written blogs has gone down recently but that is directly a result of the creation of my new podcast, The Wheelhouse with Matty Wheelz. Much of my sports venting has been occurring on there and will continue to be a primary outlet for that. I love blogging and I love podcasting, so both outlets will continue to be used by me, and this is all a part of my grand picture for Wheelz Up Sports. I hope you enjoy the blogs and/or the podcast episodes and I look forward to venting out my future thoughts on all sports on both platforms.