Individually, Aaron Judge should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
After all, the Yankees slugger is a:
⚾ 3x American League Most Valuable Player
⚾ 7x All-Star
⚾ 4x All-MLB First Team
⚾ 5x Silver Slugger
⚾ 3x AL Hank Aaron Award winner
⚾ AL Rookie of the Year
⚾ Holder of AL record of 62 home runs in a season
However, as good as he is, Judge has yet to take his respective teams to championship glory.
Judge and the Yankees went to the World Series in 2024, when the Dodgers won in five games. The clincher, of course, was known for Los Angeles erasing a 5-0 deficit. This included Judge's error in the outfield that led to the Dodgers scoring 5 unanswered runs.
Judge and the Yankees can only look on as Los Angeles celebrated their championship victory in their own stadium.
And now, in 2026, Judge and Team USA went all the way to the championship game of the World Baseball Classic.
Misfortunes, however, would continue to haunt Judge.
He went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts against Venezuela, who ended up winning their first-ever World Baseball Classic at LoanDepot Park, which was supposedly Team USA's home field.
As such, Judge continues to be unfavorably compared to another superstar slugger, Shohei Ohtani, who already has 2 World Series wins, a World Baseball Classic champion, and a WBC Most Valuable Player.
After the crazy upset that Italy pulled agasint Team USA the Dominican Republic are now the favorites to win the WBC 😳
As long as the the USA is not eliminated today from the tournament they should regain their place as favorites by tomorrow 📈
Ichiro Suzuki made history yesterday by being the first Japanese-born player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, falling just shy of a unanimous selection by one vote.
His fellow countryman, Shohei Ohtani, is already smashing records in just 7 seasons in the MLB.
Among his notable milestones are:
🔹1x World Series Champion
🔹4x All-Star
🔹3x Most Valuable Player
🔹5x All First Team
🔹2x All-Second Team
🔹Rookie of the Year
🔹3x Silver Slugger
🔹2x Hank Aaron Award
When his career is done, do you think Ohtani will become just the second player in history to be a unanimous Hall of Famer after Mariano Rivera in 2019? 🤔
🚨 BREAKING: Pitcher Max Fried and the Yankees have agreed to a 8-year, $218 million contract, per @JeffPassan.
This deal is the biggest guarantee in baseball history for a left-handed pitcher 🤯
🚨BREAKING: Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract, per @JeffPassan.
This makes it the largest deal in professional sports history.
ALL RISE 👨⚖️
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees wins his second American League MVP Award!
🏆 58 home runs
🏆 10 stolen bases
🏆 144 RBI
🏆 .322 batting average
“It almost felt like a win to just not really give up the lead and be in a position to keep going.”
Gerrit Cole after disastrous Game 5 for the Yankees 🗣️
(via @snyyankees)
"He is all in for his teams. He is all in for the Yankees... Congratulations for shining when your moment came."
Rob Gronkowski says the Yankees fan who interfered with Mookie Betts last night was a friend 😅
(via @UpAndAdamsShow)
Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have carried their respective teams to the Fall Classic.
The Dodgers and Yankees are meeting in the World Series for just the 12th time ever 🍿
That's tied with the Celtics and Lakers for the most title matchups in MLB/NBA/NHL/NFL/WNBA history.