2026 Season Preview: Will Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes have the best pitching squads this season?

The old saying in baseball is that “momentum is only as good as the next day’s starter,” which shows how important having a good pitching staff is to a club. As part of our 2026 regular season preview, it’s time to figure out who will do the best job of limiting their opponents’ offense.

On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman draft all 30 MLB clubs based on who they feel will have the best pitching and hitting this season. While every squad wishes they had a Tarik Skubal, Shohei Ohtani or Paul Skenes to lead their pitching staff, will teams like the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers still be able to find success on the bump?

Later, Jake and Jordan discuss the second PED suspension handed to Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar, causing him to miss the entire 2026 season after he was suspended for eight games in 2025. They then get into the latest news surrounding the World Baseball Classic, including a surprising name joining Team Dominican Republic and Team USA finalizing its rotation for the tournament.

1:05 – The Opener: 2026 Run Prevention Draft
19:40 – Teams 1–10 recap
35:30 – Teams 11–20 recap
46:22 – Teams 21–30 recap
47:11 – We Need To Talk About: Profar suspended
56:50 – New Team DR roster addition
1:00:19 – Team USA’s rotation

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