For love of the game, for love of the country

Paul Skenes is smiling from ear to ear, draped in red, white and blue, along with the rest of his teammates, as they begin the first exhibition game representing Team USA at the World Baseball Classic at Papago Sports Complex in Phoenix. Skenes told the MLB Network why it means so much to represent his country in the games. "First and foremost, I care because I'm from America. I love America. I've seen the WBCs in the past, and there's no bigger stage or no greater honor than wearing USA across your chest," he said ahead of the game. There was another reason Skenes said he cared, and that had to do with a mission greater than self and service. "I went to the Air Force Academy for two years. I wanted to serve. I was intending to serve and ended up transferring to LSU. Won a national championship there, did some cool stuff there. But there was a big part of me that was fully intent on serving in the military as a career after college," he explained. In 2022, Skenes told The Daily Advertiser that, just as he was about to participate in his first fall practice at LSU, he entered the transfer portal over the offseason because he wanted to see if he had what it took to make it in the majors. And that meant the star pitcher and hitter at Air Force had to withdraw from the academy before his junior year because he might have to enlist. "So even if you're still in Minor League Baseball or Major League Baseball, if you're still in the Air Force, they can pull it away from you, which isn't a super common thing, but you see it occasionally." Skenes said he had always felt a strong pull to serve and had never really given a serious thought to a career in baseball when he arrived at the academy. Two seasons later, after hitting 24 home runs and posting a 2.77 ERA in two, the pull to pursue baseball became real. Skenes said that the people he met at the academy made him the person he is today. Skenes, who won the prestigious Cy Young Award last year while pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, has shown that imprint with how he leads his life outside of the spotlight. He has teamed up with the Gary Sinise Foundation, donating $100 to the organization for every strikeout that he has. The 23-year-old has been unequivocal about why he is pitching in the World Baseball Classic, and that it is to honor the men and women in the military, he told the Athletic. "This is the greatest country in the world. That's what I believe. That's why I wanted to serve, why I went to the Air Force Academy. And those folks don't get the recognition they deserve," he said. "We're doing it to represent the men and women who are fighting for us, along with many other things that make this country the greatest country in the world. That puts it into perspective a little bit," Skenes added. After seeing the success of the U.S. men's and women's hockey teams in the Olympics, Skenes told a Bleacher Report journalist that he felt even more determined to outperform competitors in the World Baseball Classic. "Yeah, men's hockey, women's hockey, all the other golds that we won in the Olympics," Skenes said. "We're America; we've got to assert our dominance over everybody else. That's what we do. It's gonna be fun." Baseball has been America's pastime for ages. It is an American original, drawing its roots from two English games: rounders and cricket. But being the independent sort that we are, Americans started modifying it on our shores during the American Revolutionary War, when variations of the game were played. It was another 50 years before a group of New Yorkers, calling themselves the Knickerbocker Baseball Club, codified the rules and held the first game nearly 200 years ago, in the 1840s. It was a game with no clocks, and each team was scattered across the country. Whether it's on a sandlot for a Little League team, a wooden bat team or a major league team, every spring always begins with hope. And like many other American sports that are played professionally or at thousands of local rec leagues, high schools and colleges, the game serves as a social fabric that connects communities, neighborhoods, small towns and big cities. It was hard to find one member of Team USA with anything other than bold enthusiasm for the honor of making the team, playing for the country, and doing it for a purpose. Skenes said that bringing a championship home to the United States would be incredible. "This is the biggest stage I've played on. The coolest motivation that we're playing for is winning the gold for our country," he said, smiling broadly. Winning a World Series is the goal every year, he said. "But you know, playing in an international tournament where every country in the world is represented, being able to be on top of that, that's pretty cool." Team USA's quest to win the 2026 World Baseball Classic began Friday in Houston. Salena Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner.