{"id":635102,"date":"2026-03-21T08:01:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/635102\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T08:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:01:42","slug":"aaron-judge-addresses-team-usas-perceived-lack-of-fun-during-wbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/635102\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Judge addresses Team USA\u2019s perceived lack of fun during WBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Over the past few weeks, Aaron Judge said his family and friends have asked him about the perceived lack of joy Team USA displayed in the World Baseball Classic, particularly compared with teams such as Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Italy and Mexico. It\u2019s an outside opinion that Judge feels he can\u2019t change, no matter what he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s different. Every culture is different,\u201d Judge said Friday. \u201cI loved everything that Mexico was doing, what Great Britain was doing, the D.R., with how they celebrate the game and how their fans celebrate the game. That was amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re going to say we don\u2019t have the passion \u2014 my passion is grinding in this cage when nobody\u2019s watching, grinding as a 6-year-old in the backyard with my dad. That\u2019s where our passion came from as kids. If I don\u2019t show it really like that, it doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t love the game. I can\u2019t really talk on somebody else\u2019s opinion about it. Everybody in that clubhouse, every single one of those guys, that\u2019s probably the most fun they\u2019ve ever had playing the game the past two or three weeks, myself included.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of fun. We had some passion. You saw some emotion from guys you usually don\u2019t see showing emotion. We had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge said \u201cany chance he gets,\u201d he\u2019ll wear Team USA\u2019s uniform again. The next opportunity for him to represent the country will come at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. MLB has not finalized whether players will be allowed to participate, but there is optimism<\/a> that a full slate of MLB players could attend for the first time.<\/p>\n

He said he also wants to participate in the next WBC. There has been some thought the next WBC could happen during the middle of a season instead of before the regular season, which Judge supports.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thoughts are, if we\u2019re able to knock it out during the season, I think that\u2019d be great because there\u2019s so many restrictions, even with us,\u201d Judge said. \u201cThere are certain guys that couldn\u2019t pitch because of this or had to pitch on these days. If you get into it where everyone\u2019s built up, there\u2019s no restrictions, you get to go out there and just play, I think it\u2019ll just be better for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge wishes the energy from the WBC crowds could continue during the season. He said the crowd before Team USA\u2019s game against Mexico during pool play was one of the rowdiest environments he\u2019s played in. On the other end, Judge said the energy displayed by some players during the games would be hard to replicate across a full season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just tough to do for 162 games,\u201d Judge said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a lot of energy. I love how the game is, but I definitely would love more energy and more flair. I think it\u2019s great for the fans. It\u2019s great for the game. It\u2019s great for all the young kids watching the game that love seeing their favorite players. It was cool for that, but I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Judge\u2019s focus has shifted to trying to lead the Yankees to their first World Series title since 2009. The Yankees will open their season Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants. Judge said he\u2019s encouraged by the amount of pitching depth the Yankees have, calling it the most the club has had in \u201cquite a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou add those pitchers, you add (Cody) Bellinger back, I think it\u2019s only going to equal a better season for us,\u201d Judge said. \u201cI think it comes down to detail. That\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve talked about a lot, is just fine-tuning the details, figuring out the team and how we can be better. We\u2019ve had stretches the past couple of years in July (and) August, where we\u2019re puttering. You guys are asking some tough questions about what\u2019s going on. I think if we can figure that out, we\u2019re gonna be in a great spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Over the past few weeks, Aaron Judge said his family and friends have asked him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4,62,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-635102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york-yankees","11":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116266120379858897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}