Aaron Judge commits to World Baseball Classic: Yankees slugger to serve as captain for Team USA in 2026
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player Award winner, will serve as the captain of Team USA’s roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, he announced Monday.
Judge, 33 later this month, will be making his WBC debut. He elected against partaking in the 2023 tournament, which was held shortly after his first foray into free agency concluded with him reuniting with the Yankees on a nine-year agreement. Judge indicated at the time that he considered playing for Team USA to be an honor, but said that he wanted to keep his focus on the Yankees and on bringing a championship to New York for the first time since 2009.
“I wanted to be there,” Judge said Monday on MLB Network, adding that he felt wrong watching Team USA last tournament instead of being part of the roster. “I was looking forward to this opportunity again.”
Judge is off to a terrific start to the season, hitting .357/.478/.750 (254 OPS+) with six home runs and 20 runs batted in over his first 15 contests. Should his current pace hold over the rest of the year, he would become the fourth player in history with four 50-plus-homer seasons. The others? Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Yankees icon Babe Ruth. Good company for any slugger to keep.
The most recent iteration of the WBC, held after a six-year absence caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, saw Team USA advance all the way to the championship game. There, the Americans fell by a 3-2 score against Japan. Team USA had previously finished third or better in two of the first five WBC: they won the 2017 edition and scored a third-place finish in 2009.
Last week, Team USA announced that Mark DeRosa — a veteran of 16 big-league seasons and an MLB Network studio analyst — will return as manager. Judge is the first player announced.
Team USA will be in Pool B, alongside Mexico, Italy, Great Britain, and Brazil. Those games will take place in Houston, Texas, beginning on March 6, 2026. The two clubs that finish at the top of Pool B will then advance to the quarterfinals.
