The early departure of Paul Skenes from the Pittsburgh Pirates-New York Mets Opening Day matchup at first seemed like an incredible story of the power of the Mets' batting order. However, with Logan Webb and Matthew Boyd also struggling in their first outings of the season, it kick-started a broader narrative on the effect of pitching in the WBC when you aren't completely ramped up. It's something that should start a change in the schedule, according to Jon Heyman via X, formerly Twitter.
“Skenes, Webb, and Boyd get our thanks for pitching in the WBC,” Heyman stated. “But here's an argument for doing the event in summer when pitchers are ready and properly ramped up: the combined ERA for those 3 Opening Day starters is 16.39”
To be fair to the people defending the WBC, Boyd didn't perform well there either, so it could just be a bad few weeks of performance for the Chicago Cubs' Opening Day starter. However, Webb and Skenes were forces for the United States in their outings, and there is an argument that they might've given a little too much for their countries, and now their MLB teams could suffer the consequences.
If Skenes and Webb bounce back in their next starts, all will be forgotten. It is just one game out of 162, after all. However, it's worth noting that Tarik Skubal, who came under fire for pitching in just one WBC game and then pulling the chute to get ready for his Detroit Tigers season, allowed just three hits over six innings in his season debut, striking out six. Maybe the Tigers and their ace were correct with their decision.
