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New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge gave a motivational speech to Team USA ahead of the upcoming World Baseball Classic that’s been going viral for its lack of motivational quality. Judge is serving as the captain for Team USA at this year’s World Baseball Classic.
Team USA will be officially kicking off its World Baseball Classic tournament on Friday, March 6 against Brazil in Houston Texans. They’ll then take on Great Britain on March 7, Mexico on March 9 and Italy on March 10.
Ahead of the tournament officially kicking off, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge gave a motivational speech to his teammates. Unfortunately for Judge, however, his words didn’t seem to have the intended effect.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge clowned on for giving a weak motivational speech ahead of the World Baseball Classic
Captain America 🫡
Aaron Judge makes a speech to Team USA ahead of the #WorldBaseballClassic 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/xeaiiAgRxF
— MLB (@MLB) March 2, 2026
“Sacrifice for your family at home. You’re sacrificing for your country. And you’re sacrificing for the brothers in the trenches with you every single day.That’s what everybody’s expecting from us. We got our butts kicked a little bit last time [referring to the previous WBC final loss to Japan], we might be a little banged up, but we got each other’s backs.We’re gonna lay it all out on the line, man. If we do that, we’re bringing the gold home. I believe that.”
Got me ready to run through a wet paper towel https://t.co/3qXTNjLVTh
— Justin (@JustinMLB) March 2, 2026
Not everyone is a good hype man and that is ok https://t.co/Ttsyl4CnDV
— IcyVert (@IcyVert) March 2, 2026
In addition to Judge, Team USA’s outfielders include Roman Anthony, Byron Buxton and Pete Crow-Armstrong. In the infield, Team USA boasts Bryce Harper, Ernie Clement, Paul Goldschmidt, Alex Bregman, Gunnar Henderson, Brice Turang, and Bobby Witt Jr.
The pitching staff includes David Bednar, Matthew Boyd, Garrett Cleavinger, Clay Holmes, Griffin Jax, Brad Keller, Clayton Kershaw, Nolan McLean, Mason Miller, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Gabe Speier, Michael Wacha, Logan Webb, Garret Whitlock, and Ryan Yarbrough.