{"id":615287,"date":"2026-03-09T17:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/615287\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:57:16","slug":"tarik-skubal-could-change-his-team-usa-plans-in-wbc-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/615287\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal could change his Team USA plans in WBC twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tarik Skubal\u2019s successful debut for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic has the Tigers ace reconsidering his original plan<\/a> to make only one start in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The two-time Cy Young award winner admitted he might stick with the American squad for another turn after working three strong innings in a 9-1 victory Saturday night<\/a> in Houston over Great Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get into these environments, when you get this team, it\u2019s hard to walk away from that,\u201d Skubal said after the U.S. improved to 2-0 in Pool B. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect these types of emotions to run through my brain or my thoughts to differ. I was pretty committed to making a start and getting back to camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have changed, obviously, that\u2019s why I\u2019m going to have some conversations to try and figure out a plan for me. But yeah, I don\u2019t know either way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TarikTarik Skubal pitching for the U.S. against Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic on March 7, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old lefty is headed for a massive payday in free agency<\/a> after the 2026 season. Skubal added that he will discuss staying with Team USA with the Tigers, his family and his agent, Scott Boras, before disclosing his plan in the coming days, calling it \u201cone of the tougher decisions I\u2019ve made in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal was jumped for a leadoff home run by Great Britain\u2019s Nate Eaton in Saturday\u2019s first inning, but it was the lone run he allowed through three frames with five strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just changes your perspective a little bit, you know?\u201d the California native said. \u201cAnd how proud I am to be an American and go out there and pitch and compete. (I\u2019m thinking about) the people that make real sacrifices for me to play a kid\u2019s game. So we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal added that Team USA \u2014 which is captained by Yankees star Aaron Judge \u2014 has been \u201cextremely supportive\u201d of his \u201cunique\u201d situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey totally get what\u2019s going on\u2026It\u2019s unique,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had these discussions with people, and most of it is they are extremely supportive of me being here in the first place. And I\u2019ve got a ton of respect for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Americans have Sunday off before resuming the group stage with a game Monday against Mexico (1-0), with Pirates ace Paul Skenes on the mound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tarik Skubal\u2019s successful debut for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic has the Tigers ace reconsidering his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,53,4,185,382,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-615287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit-tigers","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tarik-skubal","13":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116200516570262684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615287","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=615287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}