00:00Joel Sherman here. I'm on the minor league facility for the San Francisco Giants, but on Monday it certainly wasn't
00:07minor league in any way.
00:09The greatest assemblage of American players in history gathered on that field behind here for their first workout.
00:16That's Team USA for the WBC.
00:19It was something to see, really. You see the names on paper and then you watch the hitting group that's
00:25Bregman, Judge, Schwaber, and Harper,
00:27and it really, really hits you. You have Scooble and Skeens walk by you. You realize the catchers are Will
00:33Smith and Cal Raleigh.
00:35This is a team that has been put together to try to end Japan's two-time reign as the WBC
00:43champions.
00:44That final is March 17th in Miami. If we get there, it would take seven wins to get there.
00:51And Mark DeRosa, when he met with his team, talked about that. So let's talk about this in three things.
00:56One, Mark DeRosa talked to his club on Monday before they took the field.
01:04He talked about dominating from day one, even in pool play when the competition isn't going to be spectacular from
01:11non-baseball countries.
01:13Dominate. Move forward. The idea is to go 7-0 here. That's what they want to do. That's what this
01:18team was put together for.
01:19One other person spoke at the meeting. That was Aaron Judge, who's the captain of the team.
01:25He said he was pushed a little to do it by Paul Skeens and by Tarek Scooble, and indeed he
01:31did do it.
01:32He stood up. I heard he spoke for about 60 to 90 seconds, and his message was threefold.
01:38Dive into each other. Let's all get to bond here. It's very quick, but we all respect each other.
01:44Let's dive into each other, get to know each other, and build a real bond as a team here as
01:48quickly as possible.
01:50Two, he talked about let's go after it, echoing what the manager, Mark DeRosa, said.
01:56And three, he said, let's represent the country well, and he had the American name on his jersey, and he
02:05said, let's represent the country really, really well, and that was his message.
02:10So why don't we move to number two? What does this all mean for Aaron Judge here?
02:14It means a lot. He's the captain of two iconic franchises, the American team and America's team, right?
02:22The Yankees, the winningest team of all time, and Aaron Judge does not have a championship yet as a pro.
02:29He could have two by the end of this year. He is on two really good teams.
02:34This American team, again, is stacked. He could be the captain of a team that wins the second time ever
02:40for the Americans in a WBC,
02:42and he can win as the captain for the Yankees. And this is all that's missing from his legacy.
02:47Look, this is a guy who would go in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, maybe unanimously, if
02:53he never took another swing in the major leagues.
02:56Regardless of if you think they've dumbed down Monument Park at all at Yankee Stadium, he's a plaque.
03:01Easy. His number, 99, is going to get retired by the Yankees.
03:05He's one of the greatest players in franchise history, and he's done spectacular things in the majors.
03:11He's got the three MVPs. He has the 62 homer season. He's one of the most fierce homerun hitters in
03:18history, power hitters in history,
03:20and he's just the preeminent hitter in this age.
03:24What he doesn't have is the title, and in some ways, he's chasing Shohei Otani, if you think about it
03:29in all ways.
03:30Barry Bonds has seven MVPs. That's the record.
03:32The second most now is four by Shohei Otani, who's won the last three in a row, one with the
03:38Angels, two with the Dodgers, all of them unanimously.
03:43Judge is part of a group of Yankees who are tied with three, which is the next most in history.
03:48He's won the last two. He has a chance also to win three in a row.
03:54And he's the great Yankee. There's only two Yankees who've won MVPs who haven't also won a World Series.
04:01It's him and Don Mattingly. Obviously, he's trying to end that.
04:04That might be about Otani, too. He's trying to end Otani.
04:08Again, Japan has won the last two WBCs. Otani was on the mound.
04:12Nobody expected him to go in and pitch in that last game in the championship game in 2023.
04:17The image of him running down the right field line in Miami to go get ready to pitch and ultimately
04:23get through the ninth inning and save a 3-2 game, striking out Mike Trout to end it, is the
04:28iconic moment in that final.
04:30Trout was the captain of that team, as Judge is for this one.
04:34And Judge has, you know, like Otani in his two years with the Dodgers since signing his historic 10-year,
04:41$700 million contract.
04:43They have won the last two World Series, including 2024 against the Yankees.
04:48So Judge has a lot on the line, starting with this tournament and then during the season, because it is
04:54all that is missing from a great player's ledger is the ultimate thing, which is the chip.
04:58And I thought one of the most fascinating things that came out of Judge spoke briefly with reporters on Monday
05:04is he talked meaningfully about what it meant to represent the country.
05:09And yet he said, my heart, the number one captaincy, my heart is with the Yankees, the team that drafted
05:16him, developed him, and ultimately gave him a nine-year, $360 million contract.
05:21And so, you know, I talked to him in Tampa about both of these honors.
05:26And he talked about the idea of we need to get the Yankees back where they historically have been, which
05:31is champions.
05:32And he said that's what drives him every day.
05:34He's not looking back.
05:35He's a guy who only cares about the future.
05:38He cares about today and continuing, as he says, to put the bricks down on a house that he's not
05:43yet done building.
05:45Clearly, the best building of the house would be championship with this group, Team USA, and then championship with the
05:52Yankee group.
05:53Can he get it done?
05:55Lastly, why don't I just talk about Nolan McLean, who wasn't here.
06:01And he was supposed to pitch Wednesday in an exhibition game for Team USA against the Rockies and then pitch
06:09again on the 10th, March 10th, against Italy in the final game of pool play, which, by the way, would
06:16line him up, if need be, to pitch in the championship game if Team USA got there on March 17th.
06:24He was under the weather.
06:25He had a bout of what a couple of people thought was the flu, a pretty bad case.
06:29So he stayed behind in Port St. Lucie.
06:33The hope is that he is still going to pitch Wednesday, but in Port St. Lucie.
06:38And if all goes well, he would join this team in Houston for pool play and still pitch that game
06:44against Team Italy if they could do it.
06:49That's still what's out there on the line if it could be done.
06:53And so that's what they're trying to do with that.
06:58And will he be able to do it?
07:01That's the hope.
07:02The team moves on to Houston from here.
07:05And I do think we should probably talk about sort of that tournament to close.
07:09We just saw the American men and women win the hockey tournaments against the preeminent hockey country in the world,
07:16Canada.
07:17And it was thrilling to watch.
07:20If this gets down to Japan and the United States again, it's going to be exactly what everyone wants.
07:26All respect.
07:27I mean, the Dominican Republic is going to put out an incredible lineup and a terrific team.
07:31And in single elimination tournament, besides just Dominicans, stuff happens.
07:35But the two best teams in this tournament overall, pitching, hitting, everything, are the United States and Japan.
07:43The best thing for the sport is if that collision course happens.
07:47March 17th in Miami.
07:49We'll get then to see, does Nolan McClain actually get to start that game?
07:53Is he lined up really?
07:55Is he healthy over any of the sickness he has right now?
07:58And does Aaron Judge finally get a championship he so badly wants?
08:02We'll all stay tuned, I guess.
08:04Let's see.
08:04Let's get right to see.
08:05Let's see.
08:06Let's start.
08:06Least!
08:06Let's go.
08:06The guncars are forèŠăŠ.
08:09In what science is we're doing?
08:09Let's do it.
08:09Let's try.
08:09Before we do it.
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