TAMPA — Usually when Aaron Judge is coming off a crushing loss in an elimination game, he has an entire offseason to get over it.
This time, he is just a few days away from Opening Day.
Judge returned to Yankees camp on Thursday and was in the lineup on Friday night for the first time since he captained Team USA to the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday, when it fell to Venezuela in dramatic fashion.
“You’re still thinking about the last couple games, the whole tournament, stuff like that — you’re mad about that,” Judge said before Friday’s game against the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field. “But once I came back here, get a chance to be around the boys and throw on the pinstripes, now it’s time to get back to what we’re doing with the Yankees and build towards a championship again.
“First couple hours weren’t great, but now that I’m back here around the guys, we’re ready to roll.”
Judge posted a .845 OPS with two home runs across seven games in the WBC, though he finished with a sour taste, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the final against Venezuela.
Still, he already wants in for the next time Team USA plays — potentially in the 2028 Olympics, if not the next WBC — and said he had a “blast” sharing a clubhouse with the game’s best and playing in front of raucous crowds.
“I wish the crowds and the energy were like that every single night, but it’s tough to do in 162 games, I know that,” he said. “It was just a fun environment. Elimination games from the very beginning, even in pool play, which was great. Just seeing the passion of players that usually I play against that don’t show a lot of emotion, all of a sudden they’re showing emotion, so it was cool.”
Speaking of those emotions, Team USA caught some flack for appearing to take a more businesslike and buttoned-up approach than most teams during the tournament that was full of flair and fun.
Judge said he heard about that from friends and family, but took issue with the narrative.
“Everybody’s different, every culture’s different,” Judge said. “I love everything what Mexico was doing, what Great Britain was doing, what the [Dominican Republic], how they celebrated the game, how their fans celebrated the game, that was amazing.
“If they’re gonna say we don’t have the passion, my passion’s 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.
“Everybody in that clubhouse, you can ask every single one of those guys, that was probably the most fun they’ve ever had playing the game, the past few weeks, myself included.”
Judge, who indicated he would be in favor of the WBC moving to midseason so there would be fewer restrictions on pitchers building up, also caught some heat during the tournament when he said the atmosphere for the WBC was “bigger and better” than playing in the World Series.
On Friday, he mentioned the bands playing in either corner of the outfield during the WBC and different chants echoing through the domes where USA played.
“World Series games, a lot of the passionate fans, they can’t afford those tickets sometimes,” Judge said.
Alas, Judge will have to wait seven months for a chance to get back in front of crowds like that, now turning his attention to helping the Yankees get back to that stage.
After Judge built up quickly early this spring to be ready for the WBC, Aaron Boone now plans to back off him a bit in the final days of camp.
After DHing on Friday night, Judge is scheduled to play in right field on Sunday and then start Monday’s exhibition against the Cubs in Arizona ahead of Wednesday’s opener.
“He’s built up, ready to go,” Boone said, “so a couple days backing off hopefully serves him well.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
