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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Tom Verducci

Five Obstacles That Could Stop Team USA From Winning the World Baseball Classic

Aaron Judge AL Team USA Bruce Meyer Tarik Skubal Baseball Scott Boras MLB United States the World Baseball Classic

Welcome to the first edition of Verducci’s View, a new weekly baseball newsletter from Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci. Every Monday, Tom will empty out his notebook and cover MLB’s hottest topics, provide in-depth analysis through both text and video breakdowns, look forward to what’s worth watching during the week and more.

Playoff intensity baseball in March returns this week with the sixth edition of the World Baseball Classic. Team USA has its most loaded roster ever, featuring four of the top five 2025 AL MVP finishers—Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Bobby Witt Jr., and Tarik Skubal—NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and NL MVP runner-up Kyle Schwarber. Anything less than gold will be a disappointment.

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