Baseball fans won't have to wait until Opening Day to see Paul Skenes in action. The 23-year-old ace for the Pittsburgh Pirates will represent Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
Skenes had a tremendous 2025 season with the Pirates, owning the best ERA (1.97) in the MLB while being tied for second-most strikeouts (216) in the National League. His dominance led to him being the unanimous vote for National League Cy Young.
“Winning it is one thing. It being a unanimous decision is another,” Skenes said. “It’s pretty special. The Cy Young Award is the Cy Young Award. Every baseball fan knows it. I’ve had a month to think about it now, after the season ended and what would it mean. That’s the answer I’ve come upon, is that it doesn’t change anything about the season that I had whether I win it or not. Same way I thought about the Rookie of the Year Award last year. It’s a tremendous honor, but we play this game because we love the game. We love to pitch and to win.”
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With the World Baseball Classic set to begin next week, Skenes was asked about pitching for Team USA.
Let's just say Skenes isn't lacking confidence.
"We're America, we've got to assert our dominance over everybody else," Skenes said, via Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's what we do."
Skenes is all in on representing Team USA.
In addition to making a strong prediction for the World Baseball Classic, the All-Star pitcher revealed his motivation heading into this tournament.
"We’re doing it to represent the men and women that are fighting for us, along with many other things that make this country the greatest country in the world," Skenes said. "That puts it into perspective a little bit."
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the current plan is for Skenes to make two starts in the World Baseball Classic. That's assuming the U.S. gets out of pool play.