I promise I don’t want to be a talk-radio crank about this. Sure, I (along with every other American baseball fan) was disappointed when it turned out that Tarik Skubal’s participation for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic would be limited to one start on a tight pitch count — against a team in Great Britain that the U.S. almost certainly would’ve handled anyway.

But I’m an adult. I understood the reasons why the decision was made: that the timing of the WBC is tricky for pitchers in the middle of ramping up for a long regular season; that MLB teams are understandably cautious about putting their already-fragile financial investments at even more risk of injury; that, most importantly, Skubal has every right not to gamble with his health mere months away from hitting the open market for the first time in his career.

All of that was true then and remains true now, and I felt no reason to question the patriotism or passion of a pitcher who was trying to navigate an awkward situation (even if his response in the aftermath did feel a little bit like trying to have his cake and eat it, too). But watching Skubal head back to Detroit Tigers camp was one thing; watching his first outing back at spring training on Saturday was another, and I have to be honest, Skubal’s logic for leaving Team USA isn’t holding together so well anymore.

Tarik Skubal’s return to spring training should have fans of Team USA asking hard questions

4.2 innings, three hits, one run, seven strikeouts, 61 pitches. That’s the line Skubal put up against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, and while he wasn’t facing anything like the Jays’ A lineup, he sure looked like his Cy Young self — sitting 97 (and touching 99) with his fastball and commanding his full arsenal. All of which begs the question: Why couldn’t he have done that in the semifinals against the Dominican Republic, rather than a meaningless exhibition game in Dunedin?

I never expected Skubal to gamble with his throwing program or push himself beyond his usual comfort zone at this time of year. But if he’s already up to 60-plus pitches, and if his velocity is already darn close to what it was during the 2025 season, I’m struggling to make sense of his decision. Sure, pitching in spring training doesn’t carry nearly the same intensity as facing a lineup full of All-Star in a raucous environment, but is that difference so significant as to put Skubal in danger? If anything, you could make the argument that he was more vulnerable a week or so ago — when he threw 41 pitches for Team USA at an earlier point in his ramp-up, when he would ostensibly be at a greater risk of injury.

Again, no one is asking Skubal to do anything he isn’t accustomed to. WBC rules stipulate that no pitcher can throw more than 80 pitches in the semifinal round anyway, so it’s not like Skubal wouldn’t have been able to stick to his throwing schedule if he’d taken the ball against the D.R. Paul Skenes, the Americans’ scheduled starter on Sunday night, will likely come in somewhere near the same number. So why bail on a tournament you claim to be so deeply invested in?

Maybe there’s a reasonable answer to that question that I’m unaware of; I certainly don’t purport to know everything, or even much of anything, about the science of pitcher injuries and what does and doesn’t constitute best practices. From here, though, it sure seems like he let Scott Boras, Tigers brass or some combination thereof talk him down — and put the U.S. behind the 8-ball in the process.

Tarik Skubal’s bailout could leave Team USA’s WBC pitching plan out to dry

It’s hard to overstate the ripple effect Skubal’s decision will have on Team USA and its chances of winning the WBC. Skenes will give the Americans every chance of beating (or at least hanging with) a powerhouse Dominican side in the semifinals. But if the U.S. does manage to survive that showdown, they could be screwed for the championship game.

Logan Webb is done after making his second start of the tournament in the quarterfinal win over Canada. Nolan McLean has thrown all of 48 big-league innings and got roughed up in the pool-play loss to Italy. Team USA tried to bring Joe Ryan in as a replacement, but he’s been forced to drop out due to the same balky back that kept him off the roster in the first place. The result is that the Americans would be heading into a hypothetical matchup against Japan (Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki, Masataka Yoshida and more) or Venezuela (Ronald Acuña Jr., Salvador Perez, Eugenio Suarez, Maikel Garcia, Wilyer Abreu, Gleyber Torres) with a giant question mark on the mound.

That’s hardly an ideal spot to be in, and it looks even worse compared to the thought of Skubal going in the semis and Skenes getting the final (or vice versa). Again, none of this is to cast aspersions on Skubal’s character; I have no doubt that he’d love to be playing for his country right now. But fans are justified in asking some tough questions based on how this has played out.