Team USA will have a new leader for the World Baseball Classic in 2026 as New York Yankees star Aaron Judge was named the team captain on Monday. Los Angeles Dodgers ace Blake Snell reacted to the news on social media.
Aaron Judge will succeed three-time MVP Mike Trout as the captain of Team USA for next year's marquee event. Judge will also make his WBC debut next year as he sat out the 2023 WBC.
However, this time, the Yankees captain was the first MLB star to commit to representing Team USA in WBC 2026. Following the announcement, two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell dropped a 3-word reaction on Instagram. He shared a post by MLB, tagging Judge in the caption, writing:
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"Let's go dawg."
While Aaron Judge will lead the team next year, there has been no announcement of former captain Mike Trout's participation in the tournament yet. During Trout's leadership in WBC 2023, Team USA made it to the gold-medal game but was beaten by his then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Shohei Ohtani's Japan.
It will be interesting to see if Blake Snell will feature for Team USA in next year's event. The Dodgers ace is currently recovering from a shoulder injury after he was placed on the 15-day injured list last week.
Aaron Judge receives praise from Yankees manager Aaron Boone on his leadership role
Mike Trout endorsed Aaron Judge being named as Team USA's captain for WBC 2026. Yankees manager Aaron Boone reacted to the news, hailing Judge as the face of baseball.
“I think [Judge is] the perfect face to be the captain of Team USA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “In a lot of ways, he’s certainly one of the faces of baseball; such a magnetic personality that people gravitate to, that people around the game love and respect. I think he’ll be great.”
Aaron Judge will be hoping to make an impact on his WBC debut next year as Team USA will be hoping to dethrone three-time champions Japan to win their second title.
