In reality, this team’s starting rotation could be just the Atlanta Braves rotation, and it would be the best rotation in the WBC. In this case, America is going with John Smoltz. Through 1995, he had a career record of 90-82 with an ERA of 3.53. He is coming off a season where he went 12-7, but if there is any question about his ability, his career WHERIP of 1.546 is top 20 all-time.

Greg Maddux

Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers of all-time, and Team USA is getting him at a great time. He just won his third consecutive Cy Young Award, after sporting a record 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA. He has pinpoint accuracy, nasty movement on all of his pitches, and every lineup in the world will struggle to hit him hard. The crazy thing is, he might now be the best pitcher on the team.

Roger Clemens

Clemens will be the last pitcher to win the league’s MVP award (1986). By the time this team is assembled, he will have won three Cy Youngs and led all pitchers in WAR four times. He has 182 wins, 94 complete games, and 36 shutouts. He also has the record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in one game (20), and he’s done it twice. This is right before the Red Sox let him walk because he’s “Over the hill”, and then he wins four more Cy Young awards.

Randy Johnson

The Big Unit might be the most feared pitcher since Nolan Ryan. At 6’10, he towers on the mound and blasts his fastball in consistently over 100 miles per hour. He was the 1995 American League Cy Young winner, going 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA. He also struck out 294 batters (one of nine times he would lead all of major league baseball). The rest of the world will have a hard time getting hits against this starting four.