World Baseball Classic 2026: Can Team USA ride camaraderie to a title?
· Yahoo Sports
Team USA will take the field on Friday for its first pool play game of the World Baseball Classic. Despite being the betting favorite to win the tournament, the United States is not the defending champion; that would be Japan. The United States is also not the country with the most wins in the World Baseball Classic; that would also be Japan, which has won three of the five tournaments so far. In fact, Team USA is just 21-14 in the five tournaments, despite advancing to the knockout stage in every single one. So what could be the deciding factor that pushes the United States over the top in 2026?
Most people's first answer is their lineup.
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"The lineup is tough to deal with," said Team USA manager Mark DeRosa after the team beat the San Francisco Giants 15-1 in an exhibition game on Tuesday. "There's just no holes. There's no two righties in a row, two lefties in a row. You just got your work cut out for you to get through it."
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC, INCLUDING A DISCUSSION OF THE FORMAT, YOU CAN READ D.J. SHORT’S ARTICLE HERE.
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"Obviously, we got a great group of guys," said Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper. "Bobby Witt, starting at the top, being a table setter up there for us, and, obviously, one through nine, we've got a pretty good dynamic through there."
The lineup is easily the deepest in Pool B, which also features Mexico, Brazil, Italy, and Great Britain. Only two teams will advance from pool play and qualify for the single-elimination tournament. Team USA is a heavy favorite to advance, and Mexico made a deep run last year, but Italy is poised to play spoiler this year as well. Heading into Friday's opener against Brazil, it seems like the United States will roll out a lineup of:
- Bobby Witt Jr. - SS, Kansas City Royals
- Bryce Harper - 1B, Philadelphia Phillies
- Aaron Judge - OF, New York Yankees
- Kyle Schwarber - DH, Philadelphia Phillies
- Alex Bregman - 3B, Chicago Cubs
- Cal Raleigh - C, Seattle Mariners
- Roman Anthony - OF, Boston Red Sox
- Byron Buxton - OF, Minnesota Twins
- Brice Turang - 2B, Milwaukee Brewers
Some of that may look odd at first glance, like seeing Cal Raleigh, coming off of a 60-home run season, hitting all the way down at sixth or Harper hitting second instead of near the middle of the order, but that's the side effect of fielding such a loaded lineup: "Anywhere [manager Mark DeRosa] was gonna put me, it's a good spot to be," said Harper. "It's just a really good group, a really good team. I don't think any of us really care where we're at, as long as we're winning games and producing. So I like the two spot. Being in front of [Aaron] Judge is always fun."
After missing the 2023 World Baseball Classic due to injury, Harper's presence on the team is a big deal for DeRosa: "I've known Bryce for a long time. I was with the Washington Nationals in 2012 when he came up as a 19-year-old. I know his desire to be great. I know putting him in this room around these guys, how he would feed off it. He's a special player. He's done special things in this game. A motivated Bryce is a scary Bryce."
Speaking of fear, there may not be a more intimidating place to be than being a young hitter in a lineup with all of these veteran stars, but that hasn't seemed to bother Roman Anthony so far. Despite being just 21 years old and having only 300 career MLB plate appearances, Anthony, who was a late replacement for injured Corbin Carroll, has impressed DeRosa so far.
"You take it for granted sometimes; you don't realize how young [Roman] is," DeRosa smiled. "But I just think the skill set, the way he controls the zone... That's the thing that jumped off the page when Roman came up last year. He just forces guys to get in the strike zone, goes deep into counts. He has a lot of confidence. Guys are gonna be a little nervous, a 21-year-old stepping into that lineup, but it took him all of three at-bats to get calm."
Beyond the stacked lineup, Team USA has a scary group of pitchers as well, headlined by their two aces: Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. Now, one wrinkle is that we know Skubal will only pitch one game, against Great Britain in Pool Play, and then he will return to the Tigers to get ready for the season. That will leave Logan Webb and Nolan McLean to pick up the slack in the starting rotation. DeRosa even mentioned that the current plan calls for Webb to pitch in the quarter-final game after Pool Play, Skenes to pitch the semi-finals, and McLean to pitch in the final.
While pitching in the final may seem like a tall task for a rookie like McLean, DeRosa is comfortable knowing that he has a dominant bullpen to turn to as well, led by Padres closer Mason Miller, Yankees closer David Bednar, Rays closer Griffin Jax, Red Sox set-up man Garrett Whitlock, and Mets starter Clay Holmes, who was once an elite set-up man for the Yankees.
"Mason Miller is just ungodly with his stuff," DeRosa laughed after the game. "And Griffin [Jax] was an amazing call when I first called him...He picked up the phone, and we started talking just in general, and he's like, 'Say it. Ask me.' Like, you know, I'm waiting for you to ask me. So, yeah, I know how much it means to him."
In fact, how much this means to the players on the roster may be another factor that gets Team USA over the top. In previous World Baseball Classics, there has been much made about how much representing their country means to players from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, or Australia; countries that don't often have the chance to assemble super teams made up of their best players. That level of pride and team buy-in hasn't been a hallmark of the United States teams in the past, but it certainly looks to be one for this group.
"Nobody left," said Paul Skenes about the mood in the dugout after the starters came out of the game against the Giants. "Pitchers that aren't pitching usually throw on their pullovers, but everyone was wearing their jersey. It was cool to see. You gotta wear the jersey while you can."
That moment stood out to DeRosa as well: "I turned to all the coaches, and I said, 'It's got a different feel than '23.' It just did, I mean, not a single guy left. The entire team stayed. That's the stuff for me that kind of takes me back, right? Like you're looking down the line, and you're seeing Bregman talking to Roman Anthony. You're seeing Skubal and Skenes top-stepping, and you're seeing Judge and Raleigh talk. I mean, that's what I wanted to create as a coaching staff. Everybody wanted to create an environment where these guys didn't want to leave. It speaks to the testament of guys wanting to be here and the character of them."
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It's a camaraderie that has been building for a while now, not just the last week on the field together.
"The group chat's been firing away for the last couple of months," revealed Harper. "It's been good. I mean, we don't feel like we don't know each other. Obviously, you know, we played against each other, so we're just excited to get this thing going."
"It's happened quickly," echoed Skenes. "Guys are excited to be here. The energy is not going to go down. We'll have high energy the whole time. There's lots of high-character guys that really want to be here."
That level of buy-in has also carried over into the brief sample we've seen on the field so far.
"There's something special about creating a team," explained DeRosa after the Giants game. "You saw it on display today... All of them wanted to compete, selfless, willing to move around... Just like the selflessness of PCA picking up Judge, getting him off his feet, and being willing to go to right field for an inning so Buxton can get the extra at-bat, and then shift over to center. Same thing with Ernie [Clement]. I know Ernie is going to play a ton of second base for the Blue Jays this year, but he picked up Bregman for an inning [at third base] and then moved over to second base. We've got weapons everywhere."
That bond is only amplified with 2026 also being an Olympic year. Team USA met with Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps earlier in the week, and he spoke to the team about what it means to represent your country.
"[Phelps] was intense," laughed DeRosa. "I thought it was an awesome speech. Just kind of his mindset that second place is not going to get it done. That was his message to the guys, and kind of feeding off each other and coming together as a team. All the stuff that made him great as a 23-time gold medalist. I just felt like there's something special about putting USA across the chest."
"It's a brotherhood," said Skenes. "Men and women. It's a family; everybody who's competed for our country and won gold. We've got to keep that moving."
Perhaps this is the close-knit unit that can get that done.