Team USA has its ace. Will Paul Skenes’ decision to pitch be a game-changer for the WBC?

Did Jordan Romano tune in to the 4 Nations Face-Off?

Is there a giant maple leaf on Canada’s flag?

“That was the best hockey I’ve watched in 10 years,” Romano said recently. “Stanley Cups included.”

You don’t have to take the word of an Ontario-born and raised Phillies reliever, even though he happens to be correct. It was evident in the soaring television ratings, with the Canada-U.S. final drawing 9.3 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-watched non-NFL game ever on the network.

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It was the best thing to happen to hockey since, what, three-on-three overtime? Emotions overflowed. Patriotism reigned — and was even further juiced by President Trump’s tariffs on Canada and threats of annexation. If aliens came down from outer space and observed the intensity of players on both sides of Canada vs. Team USA, they would’ve assumed that 4 Nations was for all the hockey marbles.

Actually, it was only a weeklong exhibition jammed into the NHL’s mid-February All-Star break.

“Watching those games,” Romano said, “they were electric. Everyone bought in 100 percent, way more than I thought they would, honestly.”

It also raised a fair question: Why hasn’t the World Baseball Classic ever stoked equivalent passion, at least in the United States?

Because although Shohei Ohtani’s strikeout of then-Angels teammate Mike Trout to clinch Japan’s WBC championship over the U.S. in 2023 represented a forever baseball moment, it capped a tournament that was largely met by shrugs, even from elite players who chose not to compete.

Maybe things are about to change. The WBC will be held again during spring training next March, and within the last few weeks, Team USA enlisted its first two players: the sport’s best hitter (Aaron Judge) and top young pitcher (Paul Skenes).

Will other big names join their ranks?

“Yeah, I hope so,” Phillies reliever Matt Strahm said. “I think the WBC’s great. It’s an unbelievable atmosphere to see. I understand the injury risk and everything. But getting an opportunity to put that [U.S.] jersey on would be amazing. I get chills just speaking it.

“I would like to see more guys play in it.”

If anything, Skenes’ decision to pitch for the U.S. could be a game-changer.

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Over the years, most frontline starters have passed on the WBC, opting instead to remain encamped with their major-league teams in Florida and Arizona to build arm strength for the grind of a six-month season. In 2022, for instance, 13 American pitchers finished among the top 20 in ERA. None signed on to pitch in the WBC in 2023.

Good luck promoting the WBC as a best-on-best showdown when Team USA lacks even one true ace.

But Skenes is a draw, both at the box office and potentially among fellow pitchers. The 22-year-old Pirates ace and defending NL rookie of the year will carry a 2.16 ERA and 223 strikeouts in 187⅔ major-league innings to the mound Sunday at Citizens Bank Park for his first start against the Phillies.

“Growing up, watching the World Baseball Classic as a kid, as a fan, [I] never really thought I’d have the opportunity to play in one,” Skenes told reporters this week. “So, I told myself that if I did ever get the opportunity to do it, I couldn’t pass it up.”

Maybe other top pitchers will finally feel the same. It’s the only way the WBC will ever really gain traction.

There isn’t a convenient time of year to hold an international baseball tournament.

Unlike the NHL, which extended its midseason All-Star break by a few days to accommodate the 4 Nations Face-Off, MLB doesn’t pause the season for the WBC. And with an expanded postseason that doesn’t end until late October, sometimes early November, players value a shorter-than-ever offseason for recovery.

So, when MLB and the players’ union proposed the WBC 20 years ago, it was scheduled during spring training.

For pitchers, it isn’t ideal.

“I’ve never played in a World Baseball Classic, but I think you’d just have to prepare a little bit earlier,” Aaron Nola said. “If you go about it the right way to take care of your body at that time of year, going through the offseason, preparing for that, I think it’d be all right.

“But I think guys do get kind of scared away.”

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Since the inaugural WBC in 2006, here’s a list of the 20 pitchers with the most Fangraphs’ wins above replacement: Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Zack Greinke, Chris Sale, Félix Hernández, Cole Hamels, CC Sabathia, Adam Wainwright, Jon Lester, Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, David Price, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Corey Kluber, Zack Wheeler, Nola, Stephen Strasburg, and Yu Darvish.

Only three — Hernández for Venezuela, Wainwright for the U.S., and Darvish for Japan — pitched in the WBC. (Scherzer agreed to pitch in 2017 but bowed out because of a fractured knuckle on his right ring finger.)

Instead, the U.S. has turned to second- and even third-tier starters. In 2023, the rotation consisted of Merrill Kelly, Lance Lynn, Nick Martinez, and Wainwright, who was 41.

“Putting on my scout goggles, I’d say that’s what we were lacking as a team was pitching,” Strahm said. “It’s nice to see [Skenes] step up and want to grab the ball.”

Romano guessed that more pitchers would be willing to participate if the tournament was held during the season, 4 Nations-style, when their arms are fully built up.

“I think that would be the best way to do it, stopping in the middle,” Romano said. “Because everyone’s relatively fresh. They’ve played. Everyone’s feeling at that time pretty good.”

Strahm isn’t as certain, noting that some pitchers prefer a four-day breather in July to appearing in the All-Star Game. If MLB stopped the season for a week and held the WBC during the All-Star break, Strahm suspects many pitchers would choose to take the time off.

There are other factors, too. Wheeler has the highest annual salary ($42 million) of any pro athlete in Philadelphia sports history. Asked last year if he would consider pitching in the Olympics if major leaguers are allowed to play in 2028, Wheeler said his obligation is to the Phillies.

And let’s face it: The WBC isn’t the Olympics.

“It’d be awesome to win a gold medal for your country, but at the same time, you’re playing the MLB season every year and you’re playing with a group of guys, getting paid to do it,” Wheeler said. “This is our job. This is what I’m concentrated on. As much as I’d love to do it, this is where my stressful innings need to be. I don’t need to be going there and getting hurt.

“If you go there and get hurt, your teammates might look at you a little differently.”

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It could be argued that the stakes are different for Skenes.

The Pirates are among the worst teams in baseball, with the fifth-lowest payroll ($113 million). While Wheeler is the most indispensable player on a Phillies team with World Series aspirations, Skenes probably won’t pitch a more meaningful game in Pittsburgh than any single start in the WBC.

It’s no wonder Skenes, who attended Air Force Academy for two years before transferring to LSU as a junior, barely hesitated when U.S. manager Mark DeRosa called.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m in,’” Skenes told reporters. “He’s like, ‘Well, all right, we got to work through some stuff.’ I’m like, ‘DeRo, I’m in.’ It really felt like I was talking him into it.”

Skenes figures he can persuade other elite pitchers, too. Imagine a U.S. rotation of Skenes and, say, Tarik Skubal, Garrett Crochet, Logan Gilbert, Hunter Greene, and Wheeler.

“That’s the goal,” Skenes said of recruiting other pitchers. “I think that’s probably why DeRo wanted to announce it like this. So, I’m in. I’m not worried about any of that [injury] stuff. And I think, from what I’ve heard, some other guys aren’t, too.”

In the summer of 2022, Trout committed to Team USA for the 2023 WBC.

A cavalcade of superstars followed.

Bryce Harper, who has led the charge for MLB to allow players to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics, became a chief recruiter, jumping on a text chain with Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber, and others. They all agreed it was the right time to team up.

Ultimately, Harper was unable to play after Tommy John elbow surgery. But the U.S. fielded a more star-studded lineup of position players than in the previous tournaments, in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2017.

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Asked recently if he plans to play next year, Harper was noncommittal while restating his interest in the Olympics. Chances are, though, he will raise his hand for the WBC. Two years ago, he joked that he hopes to “be cool enough to do it” in 2026.

Strahm suggested the WBC has gotten cooler, even among players. Especially after Ohtani and Trout put aside their day jobs with the Angels and dueled for their respective countries.

“There was definitely murmurs about it, about how iconic that at-bat is going to be forever in the history of baseball,” Strahm said. “The WBC created that moment. At the time, they were on the same roster together, so we would’ve never seen that. To see it in that situation, it was storybook stuff.”

Hey, it was a start. And if all the best players ever truly buy in, the WBC could be everything that the 4 Nations Face-Off turned out to be.