The United States finalized its roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, locking in a group that features both reigning Cy Young Award winners, multiple Most Valuable Players and retired Los Angeles Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw.

Most players already had confirmed their plans to compete in the tournament that begins March 5, but Thursday’s announcement revealed the Americans’ complete arsenal of arms and deep collection of infielders to go with just four primary outfielders.

“We constructed this roster with one goal in mind: to bring home a WBC Championship for the U.S. fans,” Team USA general manager Michael Hill said in a statement. “I would like to thank the Major League Clubs for trusting us with this incredible group of talented players.”

“Building this team was never easy, but it was done with purpose and pride,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa added. “These players know what it means to wear USA across their chest, and we’re ready to go to work and bring the World Baseball Classic trophy back home.”

The U.S. has won only one WBC, in 2017. The Americans lost to Japan in the 2023 final — the last time the tournament was played.

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge serves as the team’s captain and will be joined in the outfield by veteran Byron Buxton and up-and-comers Corbin Carroll and Pete Crow-Armstrong.

The 37-year-old Kershaw, who retired from his legendary MLB career after the Dodgers’ World Series title, previously had said he would pitch in this WBC. It’s not clear to what extent he will be used.

The Americans don’t have to worry about starting pitching. American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will anchor the rotation.

The United States opens pool play against Brazil on March 6 in Houston before facing Mexico on March 9 and Italy on March 10. The championship game will be played March 17 in Miami. Here’s the team’s 30-man roster:

Catchers

Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners

Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers

Infielders/utility

Alex Bregman, 3B, Boston Red Sox

Ernie Clement, UTIL, Toronto Blue Jays

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, free agent

Bryce Harper, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies

Gunnar Henderson, SS, Baltimore Orioles

Brice Turang, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers

Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals

Outfielders

Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins

Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs

Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

Designated hitter

Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

Pitchers

David Bednar, RHP, New York Yankees

Matthew Boyd, LHP, Chicago Cubs

Garrett Cleavinger, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays

Clay Holmes, RHP, New York Mets

Griffin Jax, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays

Brad Keller, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies

Clayton Kershaw, LHP, retired

Nolan McLean, RHP, New York Mets

Mason Miller, RHP, San Diego Padres

Joe Ryan, RHP, Minnesota Twins

Paul Skenes, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Tarik Skubal, LHP, Detroit Tigers

Gabe Speier, LHP, Seattle Mariners

Michael Wacha, RHP, Kansas City Royals

Logan Webb, RHP, San Francisco Giants

Garrett Whitlock, RHP, Boston Red Sox

–Field Level Media

Nimari Burnett scored a career-high 31 points to lead No. 2 Michigan to a 110-69 rout of Penn State in a Big Ten contest on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Burnett went 11 of 16 from the field overall and 7 of 10 from 3-point range while playing just 21 minutes. L.J. Cason, Trey McKenney and Morez Johnson each scored 12 points for Michigan (21-1, 11-1 Big Ten), which is now off to its best start in school history.

Michigan shot 60.6% from the field overall (40 of 66), including 51.7% from 3-point range (15 of 29), and held a 44-21 rebounding advantage.

Freddie Dilione V scored 19 points and Josh Reed and Melih Tunca each had 15 points in defeat for Penn State (10-13, 1-11), which shot 2 of 20 from 3-point range and 37.1% overall (23 of 62).

Going up against a bigger Michigan frontline was going to be challenging enough for Penn State, but the task got harder for the Nittany Lions at the beginning of the game when 7-foot freshman center Ivan Juric was ruled out with an illness.

Michigan dominated the first half, taking a 56-24 lead into the locker room. The Wolverines shot 21 of 32 from the field overall and made 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the half. Meanwhile, Penn State was 0 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half.

The second half wasn’t much different, as Michigan built a 42-point lead on Burnett’s triple that made it 76-34 with 14:40 remaining.

The Wolverines reached the 100-point mark with 3:23 left when a 3-pointer by Will Tschetter gave Michigan a 100-59 lead.

It was the eighth time this year that Michigan has scored at least 100 points in a game.

Michigan left little doubt from the start, opening the game on a 15-2 run and going up 26-10 with 8:50 remaining in the first half.

The Wolverines later went on a 9-2 run to grab a 44-18 lead with 3:38 until halftime.

–Field Level Media

PALO ALTO, Calif. — As quarterback Drake Maye and the New England Patriots’ first-team offense jogged onto the field for the first of nine plays focused on red-zone situations in practice at Stanford Stadium on Thursday, the team employee in control of the playlist had a song ready to go: “Be Legendary” by Pop Evil.

The track wasn’t Mike Vrabel’s choice, but New England’s head coach did have one request for the DJ: crank the music loud. The Patriots haven’t pumped in crowd noise through the stadium speakers, but turning the volume of the music up can in part simulate the crowd noise the Patriots expect to hear when they are on offense during the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

“We’ll have to be ready for anything that comes up,” Vrabel said.

The Patriots spent 75 minutes running through an up-tempo practice session with a focus on the two-minute drill, red zone situations and special teams. The team will finish its on-field preparations for Super Bowl LX on Friday.

“We wanted to try to get some of those things with speed and in the red zone, the plays that we’ll have to come back to and hit again (on Friday), but those are obviously critical plays down there,” Vrabel said.

Maye was sharp during that red-zone series, as the team worked through plays from the high red zone down to the goal line. But that wasn’t the case during a sloppy two-minute drill for the offense.

“We’ll have to have better execution on Sunday, without a doubt,” Vrabel. “There’s going to be mistakes, they just can’t pile up and we can’t let one mistake turn into another mistake and another mistake. So it’s going to be about how we regroup, and I thought they did that.”

Maye was once again a full participant in practice, though he remains on the injury report because of the right shoulder ailment. Linebacker Robert Spillane returned to practice and was a limited participant after sitting out on Wednesday with an ankle injury. Linebacker Harold Landry III did not practice after he was limited on Wednesday due to a knee injury.

Other players on the Thursday injury report include starting right tackle Morgan Moses (limited, rest), backup offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. (limited, knee) and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer (full, hamstring).

–Pro Football Writers of America