Yankees’ Aaron Judge talks WBC letdown, USA’s uptight rep as focus shifts to World Series pursuit

TAMPA — Asked what he made of the Yankees’ spring training and where the team stands with Opening Day rapidly approaching, Aaron Judge joked that he had no idea. “I’ve been gone, so I don’t know what’s going on,” Judge said with a laugh. The right fielder made the quip on Friday during his first media scrum since returning to Yankees camp. Judge spent the previous few weeks playing in the World Baseball Classic and captaining Team USA, which lost the tournament’s championship game, 3-2, to Venezuela on Tuesday. Judge, back in the Yankees’ lineup on Friday night, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the finale. He totaled two homers, five RBI, a .222 average and an .845 OPS in the WBC, as well as a couple impressive throws. Alas, the reigning American League MVP left with a disappointing silver medal after Team USA assembled its best roster yet in the tournament’s history. “It was a blast,” Judge said of the experience. “Obviously, we didn’t win it, so that’s not fun. But just being around those guys, being around that team, it’s something special.” Judge stressed a few times that Team USA did, in fact, have fun. Parts of the public said otherwise throughout the WBC, stating that the Americans seemed to embrace more of a militaristic approach and never looked as enthusiastic as some of their dancing, bat-flipping, and espresso-chugging opponents. Judge tried to tune those opinions out, but even friends and family made him aware of the perception. “Everybody’s different. Every culture is different,” Judge said, adding that he loved how other teams celebrated and how fans partied in the stands. “My passion is grinding in this cage when nobody’s watching, grinding as a 6-year-old in the backyard with my dad. That’s where our passion came from as kids. So if I don’t show it outwardly like that, it doesn’t mean I don’t love the game. But I don’t know. I can’t really talk on somebody else’s opinion about it. Everybody in that clubhouse, you could ask every single one of those guys, that’s probably the most fun they’ve ever had playing the game the past two or three weeks, myself included. So I don’t know, we had a lot of fun. We had some passion. You saw emotion from guys I usually don’t see showing emotion. We had a blast.” Judge, who hopes to play in the next WBC — he’s in favor of moving the tournament to the middle of the major league season — and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, added that he would love to see more energy during the regular season. However, he acknowledged that replicating that spirit over the course of a 162-game campaign would be “tough to do.” “I love how the game is, but definitely, I would love more energy, more flair, stuff like that,” Judge said. “I think it’s great for the fans. It’s great for the game. It’s great for all the young kids watching the game that love seeing their favorite player do stuff like that. “It was cool for [the WBC], but I don’t know.” The WBC’s raucous crowds left a lot of people debating whether the tournament had a superior atmosphere compared to that of a World Series game. Judge, whose Yankees lost the 2024 Fall Classic to the Dodgers, certainly acknowledged some differences in the environments. “It’s different when you got a band out in right field, a band in left field, different chants,” he said. “You don’t usually see that. A World Series game, a lot of the passionate fans, they can’t afford those tickets sometimes. So getting a chance to go to the games like that and represent your country, I think that’s a big thing. You’re representing your country, where you grew up, where you were born. So I think it’s just a different level of passion.” Speaking of the World Series, Judge is still searching for his first ring as he enters his 11th big league season and prepares to turn 34. The Bombers, meanwhile, have been stuck in a championship drought since 2009 and are coming off an ALDS loss to the AL East rival Blue Jays. Toronto also edged out the pinstripers for the division title last year despite both teams having the AL’s best record; the Jays owned the Yankees in head-to-head play during the season. But the Yankees liked the group they had last season and kept most of it together, re-signing Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and a handful of role players. With baseball’s highest-scoring offense in 2025 intact, a few new supplemental pieces acquired, some talented prospects on the rise, and Gerrit Cole expected back from Tommy John surgery on the sooner side, the club hopes to get over the hump in 2026. “I’m excited,” Judge said. “I think that’s only going to equal a better season for us.” With the WBC now over, Judge’s sole focus is on making that a reality. “You’re still thinking about the last couple games, the whole tournament and stuff like that,” Judge said when asked if was easy to shift gears from the WBC to the Yankees. “You’re mad about that. But once I come back here and get a chance to be around the boys and you throw on the pinstripes, it’s like, ‘Hey, now it’s time to get back to what we’re doing with the Yankees and building towards a championship with them.'”