By Adam Gardner / March 19, 2026
Now that’s how you get people excited for baseball season.
The World Baseball Classic was a terrific success. There were great games from start to finish, Cinderella runs, powerhouse teams, and a thrilling finish with Venezuela defeating the United States 3-2 Tuesday night. It was incredible baseball and it’s still March.
Royals Baseball Classic
I’m not the only person to use the “it should be called the Royals Baseball Classic” line, but it’s fitting. For Kansas City Royals fans, it really couldn’t have gone much better.
The world got to see Bobby Witt Jr. do the things that seem normal to us now. Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone were stars on the surprising Italian team – you couldn’t watch a WBC highlight package without the espresso shots and double-cheek kiss from Vinnie.
Maikel Garcia signed a contract extension this offseason and promptly played an amazing WBC, culminating in being named the MVP. The Royals are embracing a comic book look for graphics this year, as you can see in their post celebrating Garcia.
Luinder Avila was solid on the mound for Venezuela, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings in the semifinal against Italy. In fact, Avila didn’t surrender a run in his 4.1 innings in the WBC. He could be a very useful piece for the Royals pitching staff and is just 24 years old.
And then there is Salvador Perez. His numbers weren’t staggering during the tournament, but he did score on Garcia’s sacrifice fly in the championship game. Salvy is so easy to root for, and he’s been an incredible blessing to the Royals for so many years.
The Royals sent out a tweet listing Salvy’s accomplishments and it’s incredible to see all the things he’s done lined up like that.
That is a Hall of Fame career. I don’t care if the defensive metrics say he isn’t great at framing pitches. That is the resume of one of the greatest catchers in baseball history and I can’t wait to hear his speech when he is enshrined in Cooperstown.
Now he’s a champion again, this time while wearing his country on his chest.
The final lives up to the hype
I’ve really enjoyed the entire WBC. I’ve watched it in previous years, but I really fell in love with it this time around.
Watching the United States games, I kept waiting for the big household names to do something memorable. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Witt worked a two-out walk with the USA down 2-0. It was finally time for one of those big names.
Bryce Harper entered the at bat with 8 strikeouts and 0 home runs in the WBC. He changed that second number to a 1 when he drilled a rocket to center field, leveling the score at 2-2. It felt like the bomb would swing everything in favor of the United States.
It did not. Venezuela scored in the top of the 9th, the USA got nothing in the bottom of the inning and the Venezuelans stormed the field to celebrate. A great finish to a great tournament, all happening 10 days before the MLB Regular Season begins.
No injuries
I refused to outright say my biggest worry before the WBC started. The last thing I wanted to happen was an injury to a player, specifically the group of Royals competing for their countries.
I don’t want to imagine the feeling I would have had if Witt, Garcia, Vinnie, Salvy or whoever had gone down with a serious injury.
We made it through and everyone can head back to Surprise to rejoin their Royals teammates to prepare for Opening Day in Atlanta.
Opening Day
It feels crazy to say this, but Opening Day is right around the corner. The Royals will play two split squad games today, the 19th, then just a pair of games on Friday and Saturday in Arizona.
They’ll head to Texas to play the Rangers on Monday and Tuesday – giving everyone a reminder what it’s like to play in a Major League stadium, even if a good amount of them have been doing so in the WBC.
But then it’s off to Atlanta for a three-game series starting on Friday, March 27. That’s followed by the home opener against the Twins on Monday, March 30. You can find the entire schedule here.
The Royals have already announced Cole Ragans will be the Opening Day starter for the third-straight season, so the remainder of his Spring Training is all about ramping up to be ready for March 27. Check out comic book Cole in this graphic.
Ragans deserves it and has the best “stuff” of anyone on the staff. He is a guy who can get double-digit strikeouts and set the tone for everyone else. I’m excited to see what he does this year after injuries slowed him down last year (he pitched 61.2 innings in 2025).
His numbers aren’t great this spring, but keep in mind Spring Training isn’t necessarily about putting up impressive numbers. Every pitcher has certain things they want to do: build up their arm strength, work on command, tinker with grips and releases, etc.
Ragans has given up 10 earned runs in 10.2 innings (as of March 18). Not great. But he also has 15 strikeouts to just 3 walks, which is a great K/BB ratio. I’m confident his “regular season mode” will be better than a run per inning.
It’s also important to remember small sample size can really kill a pitcher’s ERA. In Ragans’ case, he gave up 6 of his 10 earned runs this spring in 1.2 innings of work on March 5. In his next two spring appearances, Ragans pitched a combined 7 innings and gave up 4 earned runs, with 10 strikeouts. He’s trending in the right direction.
Bubic looking solid
Kris Bubic was unable to finish the 2025 season with a rotator cuff strain, cutting his season before the calendar flipped to August.
He’s made three appearances so far this spring and has looked good. He’s thrown 8 innings, given up just 1 earned run and has 10 strikeouts to 3 walks. He threw 31 pitches in his first outing, then 52 pitches in each of his next two appearances.
Bubic will be interesting to monitor. What is the Royals plan for him this year? He earned a spot on the American League All Star team last season before the shoulder issue shut him down for the year. That injury limited Bubic to 116.1 innings.
In fact, he’s never thrown more than 130 innings in a Major League season. His career high is 2019 when he threw 149.1 innings across two levels in the minor leagues.
So how much will the Royals let their talented pitcher throw this year? One way they could ease Bubic – and Ragans – back would be with a six-man rotation, instead of the normal five-man rotation.
Anne Rogers talked about this very thing. Royals Pitching Coach Brian Sweeney said KC is thinking about it, and potentially weaving in and out of a six-man rotation at different points in the season.
Rogers mentions one of the downfalls of a six-man rotation is there is one less roster spot available for a relief pitcher, which puts more pressure on other relievers.
The Royals have a lot of starting pitching depth. At least they do right now. Pitching depth seems to have a way of sorting itself out – arms can get hurt, pitchers can be ineffective.
But for now, at least, the Royals are keeping an open mind on how to handle their situation so as not to burden the guys returning from injury.
