Yankees players have wide range of opinions on their most electric stadium experiences

TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Judge raised some eyebrows the other day when he said the crowd at the World Baseball Classic was “bigger and better” than during the 2024 World Series the Yankees lost to the Dodgers.

“The World Series I was in, the crowd here, the crowd we had when we played against Mexico, it’s bigger and better than the World Series,” the U.S. captain said after Sunday’s 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic in Miami. “The passion that these fans have, representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it.”

Putting aside whether Judge meant those comments as a slight toward Yankees fans — stop it, he didn’t — it got us thinking about what other Yankees think are the best, most pumped-up stadium atmospheres they have played in during their careers.

Amed Rosario said it was this year’s WBC (he was on the Dominican team that was eliminated by the U.S.).

Max Fried said it was the 2021 World Series, which he won with Atlanta. Cody Bellinger, who won the World Series in 2020 in front of limited fans with the Dodgers, voted for an earlier World Series that his Dodgers lost.

Paul Blackburn, believe it or not, said it was a regular-season game at the ballpark formerly known as the Oakland Coliseum.

Brent Headrick gave the answer some Yankees fans probably wish Judge had given: “Honestly, it’s Yankee Stadium.”

Headrick, a lefthanded pitcher, said he noticed that the Yankee Stadium crowd was special last season not on Opening Day, but on the second day of the season, when the Yankees hit nine home runs and blasted the Brewers, 20-9.

“The fans are always on your side,” Headrick told Newsday on Tuesday. “I remember the second game last year, we were up 20 to whatever it was against Milwaukee. We hit all those home runs. It was the second day of the season and the fans were still locked in. I was like, ‘OK, this is unbelievable.' ”

Blackburn, Headrick’s bullpen counterpart, was a member of the Athletics in 2018 when the team celebrated its 50th anniversary in Oakland with a free ticket giveaway that included opening the upper deck at the Coliseum, which was usually closed and covered by a giant tarp.

“That was probably one of the louder games I’ve been a part of,” Blackburn said. “I didn’t play in that game, so more of like taking it in. That comes to mind. I feel like it’s always a rowdy crowd [in Oakland]. That stadium’s huge, so when you pack 50,000 people in there it gets really loud.”

You know what other stadium gets loud? The dome in Houston when the roof is closed. Bellinger was on the Dodgers in 2017 when they lost to the Astros in seven games, the middle three in Houston.

That was the year the Astros were cheating by, among other things, allegedly banging on trash cans in the dugout to signal what pitch was coming. But trash-can noise is not why Bellinger thought it was so loud.

“My loudest atmosphere I’ve ever been in was Houston in 2017,” he said. “The dome. The train [in leftfield]. It was so loud. I guess it was because of the enclosed nature of the place.”

In 2007, Bellinger played in the Little League World Series. That can be pretty intense for a kid.

“I was 11 years old,” he said. “I didn’t even know what the hell was going on. I just knew we were playing on ESPN and it was a really cool experience.”

Fried was the winning pitcher in the clinching Game 6 for Atlanta in Houston in the 2021 World Series.

“The games that I personally pitched in and being in the dugout and watching, those are different,” he said. “But you get different perspectives when you’re in it versus when you’re watching. There’s just a buzz, like there’s an anticipation. Everyone’s been waiting for the moment for the entire day. From the time you wake up, this is what you build your day around. You can kind of see that everybody’s ready, and then just the fan atmosphere. There’s never a quiet moment.”

That’s how it was in the WBC for the U.S. team for the games against Mexico in Houston and the Dominican Republic in Miami. It was like nothing else, not even the World Series, according to Judge.

Rosario agrees — with one caveat. He’s never been to the World Series.

“Right now, my No. 1 is the WBC,” Rosario said. “It’s amazing. But I’ve never played in the World Series. I want to play in one this year.”

If he does, then Rosario will see. And hear.

Gerrit Cole to pitch an inning

Gerrit Cole will make his spring training debut on Wednesday by starting against the Red Sox and pitching one inning at Steinbrenner Field.

Cole, 35, underwent Tommy John surgery last March 11 and hopes to return to the Yankees' rotation in late May or early June.

Wednesday's 1:05 p.m. game will be televised by YES and the Gotham Sports App and will be broadcast on WFAN.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.