Yankees' Aaron Judge Says He Loves Playing at Dodger Stadium Ahead of World Series

Ahead of his first World Series appearance, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge is looking forward to playing in Dodger Stadium.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Judge said he's always loved playing at Dodger Stadium and he will have a lot of family in attendance since he is from California.

The Yankees punched their ticket to the World Series for the first time since 2009 with a thrilling 5-2 victory in 10 innings over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday night.

Juan Soto played the role of hero in that game with a go-ahead three-run homer to cap off a nine-pitch at-bat against Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis.

The Yankees will be opposed by the Dodgers, who clinched their fourth World Series berth since 2017 by defeating the New York Mets in the NLCS. This is the 12th meeting all-time between these historic franchises in the Fall Classic, but the first since 1981.

Judge's excitement about facing the Dodgers isn't a surprise. It's hard to find many teams he hasn't had success against, but the six-time All-Star really enjoys playing against the Dodgers.

He owns a .389/.463/1.111 slash line with eight homers in 10 games against the Dodgers in his career. Of his six hits at Dodger Stadium, four of them have been home runs.

Of course, there are some bad memories for Judge in Los Angeles. He tore a ligament in the big toe on his right foot crashing into the fence making a catch in a game between the Yankees and Dodgers on June 3, 2023.

The injury wound up keeping Judge out for almost two months and effectively ended the Yankees' postseason hopes last year. They were 35-25 before he was injured, but went 19-26 in 45 games with him out of the lineup.

New York's 82-80 record in 2023 was the worst for the franchise since its last losing season in 1992 (76-86).

A healthy season from Judge and the addition of Soto elevated the Yankees back to the top of the mountain in the American League. They went 94-68 in the regular season and have won seven of nine games through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The Yankees and Dodgers played a three-game series in the Bronx during the regular season from June 7-9. The Dodgers took two of three, but the Yankees didn't use either Gerrit Cole or Carlos Rodón in the series.

Game 1 of the World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers will begin on Friday at 8:08 p.m. ET.