CANADA – Baseball fans in Toronto won’t get a chance to see Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay in uniform for the Americans at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

The Toronto Sun reports that the former Cy Young winner will likely not take the opportunity to represent his country at the upcoming WBC tournament to concentrate on getting ready for the 2009 season.

“I really don’t think I will be there,” Halladay told the Sun. “I haven’t talked about it with anyone, yet. But (pitching in the WBC) is going to make an awfully long season, especially for a pitcher like me and who likes to throw a lot of innings. Right now the percentage of me pitching is probably something like 90-10 against.”

The right-hander placed second in the 2008 American League Cy Young Award voting, behind Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians. He posted a 20-11 record and led the American League with nine complete games while striking out a career-high 206 batters in 246 innings with a 2.78 ERA.

Halladay was named Blue Jays’ pitcher of the year for the sixth time this year in voting by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Tags: Canada