World Classic: Unlike Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes will make two starts.

As the US team attempts to win the World Baseball Classic for the first time since 2017, it was announced earlier this week that Tarik Skubal will make only one start for the US team during the competition.

Fortunately for the United States, the situation of the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner will not apply to Paul Skenes, who said yesterday (Tuesday) that he expects to make two starts in the tournament.

We're winning, we're going as far as we need to go, I'm going to pitch again in the tournament.

Essentially, this means that the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher's first start in the Classic will come at some point during the U.S. team's preliminary round, between March 6 and 10. Then, his second outing would come in the knockout stage, whether that's the quarterfinals, semifinals, or finals, if Team USA advances that far.

Paul Skenes expects to make two starts in World Baseball Classic. Story: https://t.co/olCmZqIlks

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 25, 2026

It remains to be seen how U.S. manager Mark DeRosa will handle the situation, namely whether he will keep his ace pitcher in reserve until the very end, in the event that the Americans face Japan again in the final.

In addition to Skubal and Skenes, the U.S. team's starting rotation includes Logan Webb, who will also make two starts, Joe Ryan, Matthew Boyd, and Nolan McLean. Clay Holmes could also see some action.

Returning to Skenes, he also told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he will pitch in one of the two exhibition games the U.S. team will play next week, either Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants or Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies. This is in addition to his Grapefruit League debut today (Wednesday) against the Atlanta Braves.

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