{"id":597733,"date":"2026-02-28T08:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597733\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T08:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:03:28","slug":"mlb-star-pitcher-claims-usas-dominance-before-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597733\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB star pitcher claims USA\u2019s \u2018dominance\u2019 before World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Baseball Classic has the potential to deliver more glory for Team USA after the country\u2019s recent Winter Olympics success, and one MLB<\/a> star is highly confident in his squad\u2019s ability.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Pirates standout Paul Skenes has become a dominant force in MLB and now wants to translate that success into the international game.<\/p>\n

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Skenes and Team USA will be one of the top sides at the World Baseball Classic next month, and Livvy Dunne\u2019s boyfriend<\/a> has a lot to say about America before the tournament.<\/p>\n

MORE: 2026 World Baseball Classic favorites, nations with best odds to win title<\/a><\/p>\n

Team USA men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey teams are still riding highs after winning gold medals in Milan Cortina. That\u2019s why Skenes suggested that the American baseball team channel that same \u2018dominance\u2019<\/a> for the latest edition of the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re America, we\u2019ve got to assert our dominance over everybody else,\u201d Skenes said before the 2026 WBC. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The U.S. team slated to take the field next month features a star-studded roster of MLB players, including Skenes. However, other top names like Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh have made the Americans clear favorites<\/a> for the global event.<\/p>\n

MORE: Reported MLB salary cap could dismantle Dodgers\u2019 stacked roster<\/a><\/p>\n

\"<p>Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws against the Atlanta Braves during spring training MLB game. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Team USA has been placed in Pool B<\/a> for the 2026 edition of the WBC. Their group play foes include Mexico, Italy, Great Britain and Brazil.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the reigning winners Japan appear on the opposite side of the bracket and could set up to face the Americans in a potential championship matchup.<\/p>\n

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The post MLB star pitcher claims USA\u2019s \u2018dominance\u2019 before World Baseball Classic<\/a> appeared first on The Big Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 World Baseball Classic has the potential to deliver more glory for Team USA after the country\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2402],"tags":[106,46,5,3297,39,9627,4,21995,77961,877,10,776,64,4297,4819,77960,67551,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-597733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-cal-raleigh","12":"tag-dodgers","13":"tag-dominance","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-mlb-players","16":"tag-olympic-success","17":"tag-paul-skenes","18":"tag-pirates","19":"tag-pittsburgh","20":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","21":"tag-pittsburghpirates","22":"tag-team-usa","23":"tag-team-usa-men","24":"tag-winter-olympics","25":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116147219192396238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597733","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=597733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}