The Boston Red Sox seemingly took Aaron Judge’s Fenway Park music selection to heart during the American League Division Series in October, but the New York Yankees outfielder still wouldn’t change a thing.
“No regrets,” Judge, who famously played “New York, New York” while walking past the Red Sox’s clubhouse after the Yankees’ Game 2 win, told the New York Post on Thursday.
The Red Sox, of course, responded to Judge’s apparent troll job by winning back-to-back games at Yankee Stadium to secure a date with the Houston Astros, whom Boston defeated in the American League Championship Series en route to steamrolling the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
“For me, it’s never for the opponent,” Judge said, per the New York Post, of his music selection, which now seems questionable given Boston’s subsequent Bronx beatdown after the Yankees tied the ALDS at one game apiece. “Stuff like that, I play it for our team. I play music on the bus, to and from the bus, on the airplane. After a win, it’s for the team. It’s for nobody else except our team.”
It certainly seemed at the time like Judge was trolling the Red Sox, further escalating a rivalry that kicked up a notch in April when Joe Kelly plunked Tyler Austin, setting off a massive brawl in Boston. But maybe — just maybe — the “New York, New York” drama was a product of Fenway’s layout, as cameras caught Judge playing the music in the ballpark’s concourse.
“That’s the funny thing,” Judge told the New York Post. “On getaway days, I play music if we win, every single time. But most of the time, nobody hears it, because there’s usually tunnels that we’re going through to the bus.
“And the only way to get out of Fenway is through the concourse. That’s the only place to play it.”
Whatever the case, Judge’s DJ decision lit a fire under the Red Sox, who played “New York, New York” in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after clinching the ALDS and again after defeating the Dodgers in the Fall Classic.
Maybe the All-Star slugger should have some regrets — or at least learn a lesson from the experience — if he’s going to remain the Yankees’ clubhouse DJ moving forward.
