After beating the Dominican Republic in Sunday’s tense semifinal game, USA is heading to its third straight World Baseball Classic final.
The championship game will be played on Tuesday between USA and the winner of Monday’s Italy-Venezuela semifinal.
Unfortunately for USA, it’s a bit short on pitching at the moment. Reigning Cy Young winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are both done, while USA manager Mark DeRosa has had to push his bullpen hard to get through the tournament.
With Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet getting scratched from Sunday’s spring training start, there’s been some speculation that he might start Tuesday’s finale for USA.
However, DeRosa was quick to deny those rumors during his appearance on Monday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show.”
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“I would say Garrett Whitlock is good to go for the final and Mason Miller definitely wants the ball..
I don’t know if David Bednar is gonna be available”@markdero7 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/2W0o0Ch9oQ
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 16, 2026
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“Nolan’s gonna start the game for us,” DeRosa said, referring to New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean. “I saw that, too, the Garrett Crochet (rumors). I tried to get Garrett on this team from jump, and I think we would’ve had him if he didn’t work so hard for the Red Sox. He threw a ton of innings for them, and it just didn’t make sense for him.”
After throwing a career-high 205Â 1/3 innings last season, Crochet and the Red Sox have been extra cautious with his workload this spring. The two-time All-Star recently said he skipped the WBC because he wanted to have a “normal spring training” this year, which wouldn’t have been possible if he’d played in the tournament.
Crochet is expected to pitch in a minor league game on Monday as he continues to prepare for his Opening Day start against the Cincinnati Reds next week. Meanwhile, USA will try to win Tuesday’s final without him.
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