No One's Slamming Yankees' Aaron Judge's Speech Now

The tale of the WBC has yet to be told for the United States, and neither Great Britain nor Brazil is a worthy opponent given the talent level, but if the United States loses, it won't be because of a speech. It will be because they got beaten by better teams, and nobody would be surprised if they fell to Japan again in the finals. Japan has won the tournament three times already.

There is still time before the finals, but so far, Judge's teammates have made it clear he’s their leader. Here, Judge is celebrating with Pete Crowe-Armstrong and Roman Anthony. It's akin to how Judge celebrates wins with his teammates over on River Avenue, though this version of celebration has a more patriotic flair.

Then you have the budding friendship between Bryce Harper and Judge. Harper is all but swooning over Judge in the pictures and videos of them together. There was this between he and Harper.

There was this as well.

Even some Phillies fans were a bit perturbed by the glow on Harper's face when Judge is around.

Harper doesn't have an opt-out, as this post implies, but the point remains. Harper would be the alpha dog in most any clubhouse, but there's a clear love for Judge there.

It didn't take long for his teammates to gravitate towards Judge. How could they not? Judge may not be able to craft a speech worthy for Hollywood, but does that even matter? Unless your name is Ray Lewis, most who try are just cosplaying as leaders. Funny enough, Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave more of a rah-rah speech, saying that Great Britain would shock the world, but the captain and his teammates put any Cinderella runs to bed very fast.

Judge is the type to lead by example. So, it should come as a shock to nobody that in his first at-bat, he homered to dead center field. In game two, he drove in some runs as well.

If the United States wins the World Baseball Classic, the discourse over the speech will seem even more ridiculous. If they don't, that point remains. Especially since so far, Judge has carried his weight thus far in the first two games, and even his outs have been scary for opposing pitchers.

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