Glew: Soroka looking forward to WBC quarterfinals start against U.S.
Right-hander Michael Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) will get the start against the U.S. in a quarterfinals matchup tonight at Daikin Park in Houston. Photo: Baseball Canada
March 13, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Michael Soroka will be ready for the biggest start of his professional career.
The 28-year-old right-hander will get the ball for Canada tonight against a powerhouse U.S. squad in a World Baseball Classic quarterfinals matchup at Daikin Park in Houston.
It will be the first knockout round game Canada has ever played at the WBC, and the second start for Soroka at this year’s tournament. He allowed just one run in three innings to pick up the win against Colombia in Canada’s opener in Pool play.
“I feel good physically. I think it was a different game against Colombia because there were a lot of names in the lineup that I hadn't faced and a lot of names that we didn't have a ton of data on. And this is very much the opposite. So we'll have a good idea. And it will be a little bit more of a chess match than that was,” said Soroka at a press conference on Thursday. “I'm looking forward to it. I feel really good . . . I'm going to go out there with everything I've got for as long as I've got it.”
In his six-season big league career, Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) does have some big game experience. In 2019, while with the Atlanta Braves, he started the third game of the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and held the Cards to one run on two hits in seven innings. The 6-foot-5 right-hander also made two postseason relief appearances for the Chicago Cubs last fall.
But it’s safe to say he’s never faced a lineup this loaded with All-Stars. Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Cal Raleigh, Bobby Witt Jr. and Alex Bregman are all likely to bat against Soroka tonight.
“I think in a one-game, anything can happen,” Soroka told reporters. “We say it all the time. You see that at the end of the season sometimes with game 163, anything can happen in one game, especially with the wild card. So it's kind of like that. Again, the roster gap [between the U.S. and Canada] isn't probably as big as it's been in previous years, and we're very fortunate to have a lineup like this and a pitching staff that has some depth.”
Soroka will face off against U.S. starter Logan Webb. The San Francisco Giants ace started the U.S.’s first game against Brazil and permitted just one run on one hit, while striking out six, in four innings, to earn the win. A workhorse for the Giants, Webb has topped the National League in innings pitched the past three seasons. The two-time All-Star also led the NL with 224 strikeouts in 2025.
But though Canada’s offence doesn’t have the marquee names that the U.S. does, they have definitely held their own in this year’s WBC. Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) and Abraham Toro (Longueuil, Que.) are tied for the tournament lead with seven hits each and are hitting .500 and .467 respectively.
Canada has faced the U.S. in five previous WBC games and have lost four of them.
Their last win against the U.S. came more than 20 years ago when Adam Stern (London, Ont.) almost single-handedly propelled Canada to an 8-6 win at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz. Stern went 3-for-4 with an inside-the-park home run, a triple, a single and four RBIs in that contest. In centre field, after making a diving grab earlier in the game, he made another outstanding running catch against the wall on a deep fly ball hit by Chase Utley with two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the eighth inning.
That win has become known as the “Miracle on Grass” in Canadian baseball circles.
Canada will be hoping for a similar “miracle” tonight. But the U.S. may be more vulnerable this year. They lost 8-6 to Italy in the final game of Pool play.
“I want them to go out and play, make the plays, have fun and see what happens in the end,” said Canada’s manager Ernie Whitt of his expectations of his players ahead of Friday’s game against the U.S.
Canada at WBC stats updates
-With his five RBIs in this year’s WBC, Caissie has a Canadian record nine RBIs in WBC play. The record prior to this year’s WBC was seven held by Michael Saunders (Victoria, B.C.). It should be noted that Toro also has five RBIs in this year’s WBC and Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) has two, so they each now have eight RBIs in WBC play to also put them ahead of Saunders.
-Caissie and Toro each have three doubles in this year’s WBC which equals the Canadian record for most doubles in a single WBC. Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) had three doubles in each of the 2006 and 2013 WBCs and Saunders had three doubles in 2013.
-With seven hits each in this WBC, Caissie and Toro are just one behind Saunders’ (2013) and Tyler O’Neill’s (2023) record for most hits in a single WBC.
-Toro now has 12 hits in WBC play. This moves him into second place all-time among Canadian hitters. He is three behind Morneau for most hits by a Canadian in WBC play.
-Toro and Bo Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) each have four runs in this year’s WBC. The record for most runs by a Canadian in a single WBC is five held by Jason Bay (2006), Joey Votto (2013), O’Neill (2023) and Edouard Julien (2023).
-Noah Skirrow (Cambridge, Ont.) pitched three innings in Canada’s win over Colombia in this year’s WBC opener. With that, Skirrow has logged eight innings for Canada in WBC play, leaving him 1/3 of an inning behind Andrew Albers (North Battleford, Sask.) for most WBC innings pitched by a Canadian.
-James Paxton (Ladner, B.C.) has eight strikeouts at this year’s WBC, which is not only a single-tournament record for Canadians, but also the most any Canadian has registered all-time in WBC play. Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, Que.) and Albers held the previous record with seven strikeouts in WBC play.
-Paxton’s six strikeouts against Cuba on Wednesday tied a record for most strikeouts by a Canadian in a single WBC game with Erik Bedard (Navan, Ont.) who fanned six against South Africa in 2006.