The World Baseball Classic will take place in 2026 but is quickly approaching. With World Baseball Classic Qualifiers set to start soon, players have started thinking about representing their countries. New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge recently expressed interest in joining Team USA, according to FOX Sports’ Deesha Thosar.
“I think that’d be pretty fun. It’d be cool to represent your country,” Judge told Thosar. “[Team USA] made it to the finals, but they didn’t win it. So we gotta win it. We’ll see.”
Team USA had plenty of star power in the last World Baseball Classic. Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and Trea Turner were all there, but Judge, one of the best players in the World, was absent. Judge was fresh off a 62-home run MVP season but did not participate. Adding Judge to the USA side would be a huge addition. Since 2019, no player has hit more home runs than Judge. He has hit a staggering 232 home runs with a 1.030 OPS in that span.
Team USA lost to Samurai Japan in the Gold Medal Game in 2023. Japan is led by stars like Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki, Yu Darvish, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Rōki Sasaki. It will not be easy to take down the powerhouse that is Japan, but adding Judge could be the difference.
