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Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is not sticking around with the U.S. team in the World Baseball Classic and will head back to Tigers spring training.
The two-time American League Cy Young Award winner had been significantly moved by the intensity and emotion of the international tournament, and considered altering his original spring development plan so he could continue with the U.S. team. Ultimately, though, he will leave Houston, one of the WBC pool-play sites, after Monday night’s U.S.–Mexico game, and return to the Tigers’ camp in Florida.
Skubal started for the U.S. in the team’s Saturday win over Great Britain.
Skubal’s consideration of continuing with the WBC was a sign of how differently players have reacted playing for one’s country—something that has also lent further urgency surrounding ongoing negotiations about MLB players participating in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I didn’t expect these types of emotions to run through my brain or my thoughts to differ,” Skubal said after making his WBC appearance.
Partially complicating the WBC situation, however, is Skubal’s forthcoming free agency after the 2026 season in which he could set a compensation record for a pitcher. He also just went through a fractious arbitration process with the Tigers that led to a record $32 million salary for the upcoming season.
“I would be worried about every pitch he throws,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said Monday. “I know what’s at stake for him. I’m over the moon he decided to show in the first place for us—I really am—and take the ball for us. I think it meant a lot to the guys in that room. We know where his heart is. If he was in a different situation, he wouldn’t be leaving.
“Given his ability to get to free agency, the generational wealth on the table, and everything he’s got on the table, a chance to win three Cy Youngs in a row, I was proud that he even showed for us,” DeRosa said.
