New York Yankees star Aaron Judge is responding to critics who claimed Team USA lacked passion during their run to the 2026 World Baseball Classic final.
As captain of the American team, Judge, on March 20, shared behind-the-scenes details from the locker room, pushing back on the judgments of those who only saw glimpses on social media or TV and questioned Team USA’s emotions compared with other teams.
The Yankees star said friends and family pointed out that Team USA didn’t appear to be having as much fun as the other WBC teams, and he didn’t hold back in addressing the outside criticism.
“Everybody’s different. Every culture is different,” Judge said (h/t Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). “I loved everything that Mexico was doing, Great Britain, the D.R., how they celebrate the game, it was amazing. If they’re going to say we don’t have the passion, my passion is grinding in this [batting] cage when nobody’s watching.
“You know, grinding as a six-year-old in the backyard with my dad. That’s where our passion came from as kids. If I don’t show it outwardly like that, it doesn’t mean I don’t love the game.”
Logan Webb Also Fires Back at Criticism of Team USA
Judge isn’t the only player from Team USA firing back at the notion that the group didn’t care, as San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb also had an issue with that narrative.
“You can see how much they care,” Webb told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Shayna Rubin. “We cared a lot, too. Couldn’t tell you I was happy about it, but happy for my teammates. There was some ragging going on today. I didn’t really particularly like it, to be honest.”
“I feel like there’s a narrative that we didn’t care. That’s complete bulls–t. I think we cared the most out of every team, to be honest. We do things differently than other teams, but we care a lot. It became a brotherhood for two weeks; it was really fun. We were pretty upset we didn’t win, feel like we should have.”
Yankees’ Aaron Judge Talks Loss to Venezuela
Judge went 0-for-4 on the night as he struck out three times and, as the team leader, received criticism for his play in the do-or-die final.
The Venezuelan pitching kept the U.S. bats quiet for most of the contest, and it wasn’t until a two-run home run from Bryce Harper that the Americans got on the board to level the contest at 2-2.
Nonetheless, Eugenio Suárez hit the go-ahead RBI double in the top of the ninth. Chicago Cubs’ Daniel Palencia would close the door on Mark DeRosa and his team to seal the win.
After the loss, Judge spoke to reporters to share his thoughts on the defeat to Venezuela.
“They made their pitches,” Judge told reporters (h/t SNY). “They were working the corners on both sides, and then when we did get a pitch, we either popped it up or hit it on the ground. Stuff like that can’t happen. When you get a pitch to hit, you have to be able to drive it.
“Even if you get one pitch in a game, you have to do something with it. They just went out there, executed their pitches and their game plan, and we couldn’t get anything rolling offensively.”
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