Team USA's 2026 World Baseball Classic rotation dwarfs 2023 Cardinals-infused version

The 2026 World Baseball Classic is less than two weeks away. Rosters have been announced. Players have begun departing spring camps for WBC camps. Nationalism is rising among various baseball-centric countries throughout the world.

The St. Louis Cardinals aren't represented on this year's version of Team USA, and that's a dramatic difference from the 2023 iteration of the team. In 2023, the Cardinals alone provided four players for Team USA: third baseman Nolan Arenado, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, and starting pitchers Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright. Arenado and Goldschmidt finished third and first, respectively, in National League MVP voting the year prior.

Mikolas and Wainwright, for how glorious their careers had been up to that point, are a far cry from the studs that Team USA is fielding this year in the rotation.

The 2026 Team USA World Baseball Classic rotation far surpasses the 2023 version that was led by veteran St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright and Miles Mikolas.

Let this not be a piece degrading Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright. The former was coming off a strong 2022 All-Star season where he posted a 3.29 ERA and a 118 ERA+ across 202.1 innings.

The latter had just set the record for most appearances as a battery with Yadier Molina while also posting a 3.71 ERA and a 105 ERA+ across 191.2 innings. In 2021, Wainwright finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting thanks to an MLB-best three complete games and a 3.05 ERA. These veterans ate innings the year before the WBC, and they were hungry to play for their country.

"I love our country, and I'm proud to represent it," said Wainwright of the chance to participate in the 2023 WBC.

Wainwright would make two starts in 2023, throwing eight total innings with a 2.25 ERA while striking out five batters. Mikolas appeared in two games in relief, striking out five and posting a 1.50 ERA in six innings.

Despite all of that patriotism and track record, Wainwright and Mikolas fall quite short of the starting rotation that Team USA is rolling out at this year's World Baseball Classic.

Back-to-back American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal will lead Team USA's charge, though he recently announced he'll only pitch one game at the WBC. Behind him are Joe Ryan, who may have an injury himself after experiencing back pain at spring training; National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes; workhorse and perennial Cy Young candidate Logan Webb; and rookie Nolan McLean. Zack Wheeler was considering joining the team until undergoing shoulder surgery.

Even accounting for Skubal's early departure and injuries to Joe Ryan and Zack Wheeler, this year's starting rotation for Team USA is far superior to the 2023 version that featured two Cardinal veterans.

Stephen Nesbitt of The Athletic discussed this disparity recently. "Three years ago, the U.S. starters were Merrill Kelly, Lance Lynn, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Freeland and Miles Mikolas," wrote Nesbitt. "No pitcher on the U.S. staff received even a down-ballot Cy Young vote the previous season."

For as glorious as it is to see your own team's players don their national colors and play for their country, it's just as rewarding to see some of the top pitchers in MLB take the mound on the international stage. Adam Wainwright and Miles Mikolas were once great pitchers for the St. Louis Cardinals, but it's time for superstars like Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, and Logan Webb to bring international glory to the United States once again.