![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/news-1771903901019.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal will only make one start for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic next month. The two-time Cy Young Award winner wants to focus on preparing for Detroit’s season opener while still representing his country.\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
LAKELAND, Fla. \u2014 Detroit Tigers star pitcher Tarik Skubal has announced he will limit his participation with Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic to just a single start, no matter how deep the American squad goes in the tournament.<\/p>\n
The left-handed pitcher, who has claimed the last two American League Cy Young Awards, wants to stick with his typical spring training preparation schedule to be ready for Detroit\u2019s season opener.<\/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,\u201d Skubal explained to media members Monday in Florida. \u201cI 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
The 29-year-old made his spring training debut Monday, recording four strikeouts across two shutout innings while allowing just two hits in Detroit\u2019s 3-0 defeat to Minnesota. His next scheduled appearance will be Sunday versus Toronto, followed by his lone Team USA outing during pool play in Houston next week.<\/p>\n
Following that international appearance, Skubal plans to return to the Tigers for the remainder of spring training.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the best of both worlds. That was the communication I had with those guys,\u201d Skubal noted. \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 could enter free agency this fall, is set to take the mound for Detroit\u2019s March 26 season opener in San Diego. The pitcher recently won his arbitration case against the Tigers, securing a $32 million salary for this season rather than the team\u2019s proposed $19 million.<\/p>\n
The World Baseball Classic will take place March 5-17 across multiple cities including Tokyo, Houston, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Miami, where the championship game will be held for the second consecutive tournament.<\/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 emphasized. \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
The two-time All-Star has dominated American League hitters over the past two seasons, capturing back-to-back Cy Young Awards and ERA titles. Last season, he posted a 13-6 record with a career-low 2.21 ERA across 31 starts, striking out 241 batters while issuing only 33 walks in 195 1\/3 innings. His 0.891 WHIP led all qualifying pitchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal will only make one start for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2386],"tags":[75638,75639,5,147,53,2583,75632,75640,75634,75635,75633,75636,4,594,75637],"class_list":{"0":"post-589412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-tigers","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-tigers","13":"tag-detroittigers","14":"tag-fine-day","15":"tag-fine-day-102-3","16":"tag-fine-day-fm","17":"tag-fine-day-media","18":"tag-fine-day-radio","19":"tag-have-a-fine-day","20":"tag-mlb","21":"tag-tigers","22":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116123559456158937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}