Jenny Dell Sheds Her CBS Outfit For Bikini Time In Turks And Caicos, DeRosa Doubles Down & Benedict Skubal?

Over the hump and safely into Thursday – and to the knockout round of the WBC. Whew. How great did Mark DeRosa sleep last night? I was SWEATING for him. 

Sure, it was all self-inflicted, but sometimes we just need a win. DeRo needed a win last night, and the Italian JUGGERNAUTS gave him one. 

PS: I love how the Italian team is made up of mostly just dudes born in Jersey. What a tournament. 

Anyway, now we GO. Canada on deck. Back to business. 

Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps – the one where CBS's Jenny Dell jets off to Turk & Caicos to enjoy one final vacation before baseball season. This is how you do R&R, boys and girls. Take notes. 

What else? I've got thoughts on Tarik Skubal ditching his brothers for the … Tigers … and then we'll look at country star Kacey Musgraves' new music video. 

It's literally just softcore porn, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. I'm more of a Loretta Lynn guy myself, but to each his own. This is a judgment-free class. (Not really). 

OK, grab you an old COVID vaccine card to celebrate the 6-year anniversary of the world going to hell, and settle in for a Thursday 'Cap!

Time flies when you're (not) having fun!

Amazing. I can't believe we're now closer to 2030 than we are 2020. There's a popular theory circulating the internet that life as we knew it ended on March 13, 2020, and we've been stuck in this weird simulation ever since. 

And honestly, this is a conspiracy I can actually buy. Most of the internet conspiracy theories are hilariously out there. This one? Eh. I can buy it. I can absolutely buy it. 

The First Lady and I actually bought our first house literally the day Florida shut down. We signed the papers, and we were locked down that night. I assumed it was the dumbest purchase I'd ever made. I figured I was COOKED. 

In hindsight, I should've bought 50 homes. I'd be retired by now. I bought it for $205K in 2020. We sold it for $330K in 2023. You ain't getting an ROI like this in the housing market ever again. I hope not, at least. If so, something else has gone horribly wrong. 

Anyway, I can't believe it's been six years. Cheers! 

Where do we stand on Tarik Skubal?

I could share a thousand tweets from that day/time that would blow your mind. We really were so stupid. I was working for insufferable USA Today at the time, and they sent me to the Publix down the street that morning to cover folks buying toilet paper. Seriously. 

Our kids will mock us so hard when they read about 2020 in the history books in a few years, and we're all just going to have to take it on the chin. 

OK, let's jet back to 2026 and check in on the World Baseball Classic! 

We've got another edition of USA-Canada Friday night. I assume we will win this one as long as DeRo fills out the correct lineup card. When we win, it'll most likely set up a showdown with the Dominican Republic. Paul Skenes will probably pitch that game, and it'll be the most electric atmosphere you'll ever see. 

But I'm not here to talk about Skenes … I want to get everyone's thoughts on Tarik Skubal. He will NOT be pitching anymore this tournament because he left the team to return to Tigers camp to get ready for the season. 

Personally, I think it's such a gutless move. I couldn't imagine staring my teammates in the eye after this:

Kacey, DeRo & Jenny, oh my!

So, Tarik left the team after pitching one game – a throwaway against Great Britain. I could've pitched against GB and we probably would've won. 

He's leaving, in part, because he's entering a contract year and wants to get paid next season. I don't know if he's actually said that, but … that's why. Obviously, fans are going to rip him for it, and I don't blame them. 

I feel like either show up and play the whole tournament, or don't show up at all. 

If Skubal never signed up to begin with, nobody would care. Garrett Crochet was the best pitcher in the AL last season, he's UNDER contract already, and he's not playing this time around. Nobody has said a word. 

But Skubal tried to have it both ways, and now he just looks like a sellout. Meanwhile, you've got absolute animals like THIS on the DR:

And that, by the way, is why I think the DR not only beats us this weekend, but wins the whole thing. Have you WATCHED a DR game yet? It's a mob scene. 

I somehow found the game last night on Tubi – TUBI! – and I was hooked. Those guys get it. That team is loaded. Sandy had his arm put back together a few years ago, and now he's ready to undo it all for his country. 

That's who we're up against, folks. I don't like it, at all. 

OK, let's quickly rapid-fire this Thursday class and get on outta here. First up? Did you know music videos were still a thing? No?

Well, buddy, they ARE:

"I'm so lonely, lonely with a capital "H" If you know what I mean, I've been sitting on the washing machine."

Just beautiful stuff. Talk about a wordsmith! Well done, Kacey. Penis-shaped balloons. "Orgy Juice." Eggplants. If this isn't country music, I don't know what is. 

I kid, obviously. Don't yell at me. 

No, this ain't your granddaddy's country music. Hell, it's not even MY country music! I grew up with Shania Twain. She was a pistol, but NOTHING compared to this Kacey Musgraves. 

Remember, this is the same chick who once rolled around naked in a field for her new album cover a few years back. Just … naked. 

She has to be the horniest country singer ever, right? I think this seals it. Not sure that there's even a close second after this video. 

PS: no shot she went 335 days without sex. No. Shot. 

Yeah … I ain't buying it. 

Next? We have a Mark DeRosa follow-up! 

Look … it's just not true. Mark DeRosa had a chance to just own up to it here, and he tried to at first. But then, he doubled down on it, and also got something else wrong! 

The US was 3-0 going into the game. Not 2-0. 

Small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but still, it's not a great look. There is just no way he should've sat there with a straight face and said he was trying to win the game. Not with the lineup he rolled out there. Not with the pitchers he threw. 

Not with CLAYTON KERSHAW warming up in the 8th. 

There's just no way. Own it. Move on. He didn't.  Again, it makes me sad because I like DeRo, but fair is fair, and this was gross. 

OK, you know what's not gross? Jenny Dell on a beach. 

Take us home!

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).

Thoughts on Skubal? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.