On Wednesday morning, it was announced that Seattle Mariners' left-hander Gabe Speier will be pitching for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which begins on March 4. 

Later on Wednesday morning, Speier joined MLB Network to talk about his inclusion in the event, and his excitement for it.

"I've always prided myself on the big moment, loving to pitch in front of big crowds in the big moment and the WBC is going to be a lot of that. So, I'm really looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenge, and it's going to be a lot of fun."

In addition to talking about the great environments at the WBC, Speier also spoke about his past history facing Shohei Ohtani, who he could face in the looming tournament. Additionally, he re-lived some of his biggest moments from a special 2025 season.

Now 30 years old, Speier is a seven-year veteran of the Kansas City Royals and Mariners. In 215 career games, Speier is 6-9 with a 3.64 ERA, though he turned in a dynamic season for the M's in 2025. As the Mariners advanced to the American League Championship Series, Speier went 4-3 with a 2.61 ERA in a whopping 76 games. He struck out 82 batters in 62.0 innings.

For his career, he's held lefties to a .188 batting average and he figures to be a weapon against lefties for Team USA skipper Mark DeRosa.

The World Baseball Classic begins on March 4 and runs through March 17. The Americans are expected to perform well at the tournament, which means that Speier will likely be away from Mariners camp for more than two weeks. While a great honor for him individually, it's never good for a team to be missing key players for that long.

Japan is the reigning WBC champion, having beaten Team USA in the 2023 gold medal game.

As of now, the Mariners are sending Speier, Cal Raleigh (Team USA), Julio Rodriguez (Dominican Republic), Randy Arozarena (Mexico), Matt Brash (Canada), Josh Naylor (Canada) and Michael Arroyo (Colombia) to the WBC.

Andres Munoz (Mexico) and Eduard Bazardo (Venezuela) are also expected to play, though their roster spots have not been finalized yet.

With just under one month to go until spring training begins, the Mariners are still at work on their roster for 2026. They remain engaged in trade conversations for St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan, and they are also interested in reliever JoJo Romero.

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