The World Baseball Classic™ is scheduled to kick off in early March of 2026. Select countries from all over the world are in the process of finalizing baseball rosters, coaching staffs, travel plans, game plans, and other baseball operations for the roughly 2 week international tournament. The massively successful 2023 WBC tournament culminated with a finals which pitted Team USA vs. Team Japan, a matchup of international baseball titans, and a final strikeout of California Angels All-Timer Mike Trout by his teammate and All-Timer himself, Shohei Ohtani. You couldn’t script the drama to be any higher in that at-bat and at that moment in time. Shohei got the better of his teammate Trout on a wicked slider and Team Japan captured the WBC’s top prize and international bragging rights.

If you do not recall the roster we put out on the field, had in the bullpen, and was sitting on the bench, check out the official 2023 Team USA (Professional) Roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic™.

And ask yourself, how did we lose a single game??? How did we not just steamroll the competition, including a Team Japan roster that had some MLB players but mostly professional players from Japan? Our record in the 2023 WBC was 5-2. Chew on that while you think about this…

Looking over the rosters from the past several WBCs, Olympics, and international competitions I cannot think for the life of me how we, Team USA’s Professional Baseball Roster, were defeated by any other team in the past 25 years of competition. 2006 – Team USA Baseball had a roster including Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Clemens, Jake Peavy, Matt Holliday, Ken Griffey, Jr., Chipper Jones, Al Leiter. And went 3-3 in the WBC that year. How? 2009, with the likes of Jeter and Chipper returning, add in Dustin Pedroia, David Wright, Jimmy Rollins, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun, and current Team USA Head Coach Mark DeRosa. Their 2009 WBC record was 4-4. Fast forward to 2013, another stacked roster, and another 3-3 record. 2017, Team USA Baseball won the Gold Medal at the World Baseball Classic™ besting Puerto Rico in the finals. That 2017 roster included Buster Posey, Nolan Arenado, Alex Bregman, Andrew McCutcheon, and a slew of good (not Hall of Fame) MLB players. Their 2017 record in the WBC was 6-2. So, one gold medal, one major tournament title in 25 years of assembling rosters with future Hall of Fame players, MLB All-Stars, team aces, team batting champs, league MVPs, that’s all we can muster?

According to the official Team USA Baseball website, the 2026 World Baseball Classic™ roster is taking shape and the names so far are just astounding. You have the AL and NL Cy Young Award winners for 2025. You have the AL MVP and the AL MVP runner up. You have the dude who hit the game winning HR in the 2025 World Series. You have the NL MVP runner up, along with 6 or 7 other AL and NL players who received MVP votes in 2025. You have former Rookies of the Year aplenty. You have a roster so far that, on paper, is going to go down as one of Team USA’s most stacked rosters of all-time. Couple the roster with a veteran coaching staff that returns many coaches from the 2023 WBC squad that came 1 hit away from winning the title. Purely speculating here, but a potential starting lineup for Game 1 of the 2026 WBC could look something like this:

• Aaron Judge – RF
• Gunnar Henderson – 3B
• Bobby Witt, Jr. – SS
• Kyle Schwarber – DH
• Cal Raleigh – C
• Pete Crow-Armstrong – CF
• Corbin Carroll – LF
• Bryce Harper – 1B
• Brice Durang – 2B
• Paul Skenes – SP

On paper, who is beating that team? I don’t even have to review any other country’s roster. The answer, in my opinion, is no one. Move Harper up to 3rd, move Judge down to 4, move Carroll up to 1, heck swap out Skenes for another Cy Younger – Tarik Skubal and the result, on paper, should be the same. Offensively, this lineup is about as lethal as you can find. Defensively, nothing is getting through the left side of the infield, passed the catcher, or dropping in any gaps in the outfield. On the mound, you can try but you will fail to hit the likes of Skenes and Skubal. Team USA should dominate the 2026 WBC like few in the history of the tournament. In the end, a resounding Team USA win and a WBC Gold Medal should be the result, based on the current roster on paper.

But the reality is they don’t play the game on paper. They play it on the field against other countries just chomping at the bit to beat the great and mighty Team USA Baseball team. Team USA Baseball has to be one of the heavy favorites to win the 2026 WBC and being the favorite adds extra pressure to win out. If Team Italy gets shellacked by Team USA, will anyone blink an eye? Negative. But, if Team Italy upsets Team USA, wow how embarrassing will that be? How about Team Great Britain, how incredibly shocking will that be? Wicked shocking, I say. Will the All-Stars, the Cy Youngers, the MVPs show up in March and dominate not just on paper but on the field of play? Or will they be just average again like their predecessors in 2006, 2009, 2013?

I’m not in baseball operations on any level. I’m a baseball fan who writes a baseball blog and the opinions of this blog are my own. I am a huge fan of every single player on the 2026 Team USA Baseball roster and will cheer for them in the 2026 World Baseball Classic™. I suspect they will win it all, I mean how can they not? I will leave you with this question. Is it better to stack your roster with All-Stars, Cy Young Awarders, MVPs and let them be them? Or to build your roster with good players not great players, who will perhaps give you an unexpected performance or intangible not in the box scores? Perhaps, compile a roster from the top collegiate baseball talent pool, lower levels of the minor leagues, heck even Seniors in High School. If the formulas of 2006, 2009, and 2013 didn’t produce a title, why would you use the same formula for 2026? The 2017 formula worked, in my opinion, with some greats and a slew of good ball players. Here is hoping my issue does not become reality and Team USA wins the gold medal in the 2026 World Baseball Classic™. Go Team USA!!!

Check out the Team USA (Professional) roster, schedule of games, and so much more at their official baseball website – Team USA Baseball.

Thoughts and opinions: