Aaron Judge says Team USA baseball 'fired up' after hockey gold, wants to 'copy' what Olympic teams did

David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez reflect on their memories from the World Baseball Classic, while Kevin Burkhardt joins the discussion as the tournament prepares for its 2026 return to FOX.

Another version of Team USA, this time on the baseball diamond, is preparing to bring home a gold medal, as the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is set to start this week. 

The U.S. has done well in recent sporting events, including the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams, who both defeated Canada in the Milan Cortina Games last month. Both games ended with an overtime goal, with Megyn Keller’s backhand winning it for the women and Jack Hughes’ heroics for the men. 

Team USA baseball captain Aaron Judge, the three-time MVP for the New York Yankees, made an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Monday, where he admitted those hockey performances were getting his teammates fired up for the WBC. 

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Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees speaks to the media after being named 2026 WBC Team USA captain during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Monday, April 14, 2025 in New York, New York. (Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos)

"Boys were fired up," he said when McAfee asked him his thoughts on Hughes’ goal in particular. "Hughes, man, we sent so many pictures of Hughes in the group text. It was great.

"It’s kinda cool that it’s going to snowball into this. Just the excitement we had when I was with the Yankees, and then with the group text, the boys were pumped up. Now, it’s WBC, we get the chance to throw on the red, white, and blue and copy what they did."

Judge added that it was a "special run" both the men and women had. 

Of course, Judge is