Have they ever wondered what the Yankees do while traveling? Well, Captain Aaron Judge has let the cat out of the bag: they’re big into video games! On the Casa de Klub podcast, Judge revealed that the team loves playing FIFA. Here’s the twist—he wasn’t into the game at first, but that changed completely thanks to Gleyber Torres’s passionate Spanish commentary. Judge is now known for dominating his teammates in FIFA. But how did this change happen?

It all started on a trip to Baltimore, when Tommy Kahnle brought along his impressive gamer setup—monitor, Xbox, and all—just as Judge described, “always travels with this big, like, gamer case.” Up until that trip, Judge wasn’t a FIFA fan. He admitted he was sitting there, watching Brett Gardner and Cameron Maybin go head-to-head in a FIFA match, not expecting much.

But here’s the kicker—what really caught Judge’s eye wasn’t the intense matches but Gleyber Torres’s lively commentary. Judge cheerfully recalled, “We had Gleyber Torres in the mic on the bus, commenting in Spanish and just going back and forth. Passjididjsjsj like going quick.” He quickly recalled that the team was literally dying of laughter at that moment, “We were dying, we were having a blast” and this became the start of his FIFA journey. Since then, he’s been on a mission to crush more teammates in FIFA. So, who did he add to this FIFA frenzy?

Who is Aaron Judge’s new main challenger?

Well, it’s none other than the Yankees‘ rookie shortstop. Anthony Volpe, at just 21, made a splash as the youngest Yankee to start on Opening Day since Derek Jeter. And it didn’t take much to bond with the captain, but there was one common thread: love for FIFA. Volpe admitted to ESPN that he has been following soccer since the World Cup, which was played in November and December.

How does any soccer fan go without being a part of FIFA? It’s similar to the next step; he started playing on his PlayStation 4 most nights during spring training, with one of his roommates, Mickey Gasper, becoming his main challenger. Little did the rookie know that his captain had his eyes on him and that his main challenger was about to change. Although the main issue was that Judge used to play on PS5, to counter compatibility being an issue for cross-platform play, he decided to gift Volpe a brand new console so they could face each other.

When the team arrived in Baltimore for the start of a seven-day, six-game road trip last week, the PS5 was waiting for Volpe at the ballpark; Judge only had one sweet thought in mind: “It was my way of trying to connect with him and trying to know him as a person, particularly when it comes to the things that he enjoys off the field,” Judge told ESPN. “And one thing that I picked up in spring training was hearing him talk about FIFA.” On the other hand, the shortstop was speechless and fell short of words; all he could say was, “It’s very welcoming. He is going out of his way to bring me in. It’s very generous and kind. And to have something like that with a new teammate, it’s special.”

After gifting Anthony Volpe a PS5, the 33-year-old baseball star didn’t hold back, totally dominating the rookie in FIFA. Volpe shared their first match with a blend of frustration and respect: “We started with a best-of-three, but after he wiped me out the first two times, we went to best-of-five. He won 3-1. I thought I was making a comeback with my win, but he got me again in the next game.”

Their off-field rivalry has certainly been entertaining, but it’s equally exciting to see how their chemistry will play out on the field. With the Yankees riding high on recent wins and Judge hitting his iconic 300th home run, expectations are soaring that this year may end their 15-year trophy drought. Undoubtedly, the captain is having one of his career-high seasons in 2024, but can Volpe channel that FIFA enthusiasm into his game tomorrow?