Judge relishing World Series duel with 'best player' Ohtani
LOS ANGELES — New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge is looking forward to testing himself against "the best player" in baseball when he comes up against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Friday's titanic World Series opener (Saturday Manila time).
Home-run machine Judge is just one of several superstars who will take to the field at Dodger Stadium on Friday in what has the makings of a blockbuster Fall Classic.
But according to Judge, who led the major leagues with 58 home runs during the regular season, Ohtani is a notch above the array of talent who will be on display in the best-of-seven series.
"When you got the best player in the game, it's always going to be a fun match-up," Judge said of Ohtani, who made history this year by becoming the first player to amass 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
"We've seen what he's done all year," Judge said. "You know — the 50-50 club, which has never been done, which is just absolutely unheard of.
"Listen guys, I can sit here and talk about him all day — the things he can do on the baseball field is something special. So I'm just looking forward to seeing what he does. It's gonna be a fun match-up."
'Get punched, punch back'
Like Ohtani, Judge is playing in his first World Series.
It has been a long time coming for the 32-year-old, 6-foot-7, 282-lb slugger from the Bronx.
As World Series debuts go, this year's clash between two of baseball's most iconic franchises — meeting in the Fall Classic for the 12th time — doesn't get any bigger.
"It's an incredible feeling," Judge said. "Having two historic franchises like this going at it again.
"It's pretty cool. They just had some highlights on in the clubhouse of kind of all the past meetings and how they've gone.
"You see the list of players that were in these match-ups, you know, back and forth. Man, it's, it's something special ... just getting a chance to be a part of this is going to be fun. But we got work to do."
Judge is aware that this year's championship series is much more than simply a straight duel between him and Ohtani, citing the Dodgers' batting lineup that also includes former Most Valuable Players Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, as well as Yankees stars such as Giancarlo Stanton.
"We can talk about Shohei, talk about me. But you look up and down their lineup — they've got three MVPs to lead off.
"And you know the guys we got in our lineup. It's impressive."
In mid-season, however, the Yankees looked anything but World Series contenders after a nosedive in form that saw them win just five of 20 games through June and early July.
Judge says the roller coaster campaign had forged a battle-hardened Yankees lineup.
"This team's like a family — I think going through a lot of adversity in the regular season, the ups and downs, losing streaks, the tough times, and now the good moments — we're kind of rolling," Judge said.
"It just helps us get together and kind of builds that unity, that you can kind of push through anything ... you get punched, punch back."
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