Aaron Judge, New York's captain of the Yankees, made a controversial remark that the World Baseball Classic (WBC) was "bigger and better than the World Series" following Team USA's 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic. Michael Kay, the longtime play-by-play voice of the team, expressed surprise at the comparison, stating he was not advanced enough to comprehend the magnitude of the WBC's impact on baseball. He also argued that the WBI stage can't be bigger than Judge's experience because loanDepot Park's capacity of 36,000 less than that of Yankee Stadium or Dodger Stadium. The U.S. team will compete for their first WBC title since 2017 in the championship game against Venezuela.