Bryan Cranston thinks Aaron Judge is baseball’s best player

The first thing you need to understand is that Bryan Cranston knows ball. The actor, famed for his performances in “Malcolm in the Middle,” and “Breaking Bad,” along with dozens of other credits, is not a mere baseball dabbler. He is as baseball-obsessed as any person I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with, going as far as to politely correct me on certain dates in Dodgers history that I had wrong in my notes.

Naturally then, before becoming an actor, his dream was to be a baseball player — comparing his all-fields approach at the plate to Freddie Freeman’s.

“I could have been that five-tool player, except I lacked one important skill: I lacked talent,” Cranston said with a laugh. “If I just had talent, I could have been a Major Leaguer.”

All of this is to say that Cranston doesn’t just watch baseball. He thinks about baseball and he notices the little things, like how Mookie Betts’ swing is so short to the ball or how Clayton Kershaw has changed his approach as he’s aged and his velocity has dipped a few points. When we got together to talk about the 2024 season and the players who have stood out to him, this is coming from someone who has been tuning in, day in and day out, all summer long.

Here is our conversation — edited for length and clarity.

MLB: Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Shohei Ohtani are just some of the players having incredible years right now. For you, who is the best player in 2024?

Bryan Cranston: I’d have to go with Judge — (he could win the) Triple Crown there. For him to be able to slug like that and still have a high batting average, it’s really amazing. I think he and Bobby Witt are going to come down to the end. I’ve got to give Bobby credit, because that’s also a very demanding position to play out there, day in and day out at shortstop. But Judge is in center field. Those are two very hard positions to play. I really hope that both of them stay healthy all the way through the end. I’d hate to see one of them get hurt.

And Ohtani, I love him. He’s a great addition, a great teammate, a Dodgers player — my team. We’ll see how well he does next year when he has to take on the pitching duties again, and then see if that affects his hitting ability. But right now, I think he’s sitting on 39 home runs and 39 stolen bases — that’s phenomenal! (It’s now 44 homers and 46 stolen bases.)

MLB: Judge and Ohtani aren’t just two of baseball’s brightest stars, but also play in two of the country’s biggest markets in New York and Los Angeles. As a fan of the Dodgers, how would you feel if they faced off in the World Series?

BC: It means God is listening, because that’s what I hope happens. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Yankee organization. Yankee fans are insanely supportive in every great way. I don’t know if there are stronger passions that run deeper than a Yankee fan. But I will say that I’m not a Yankee fan. They’ve been Dodger killers ever since they were in Brooklyn and those two World Series in the ’70s broke my heart. It’s just so painful, but I’d love to see it.

MLB: If Dodgers emerged victorious, maybe that could be a little revenge then?

BC: Well, we actually did get back at them in ’81 against the Yankees. There was some retribution there. But no one comes close to what the Yankees as an organization have accomplished. The Dodgers have seven World Series titles. (The) Yankees just crush everyone else. I mean, it’s just the Yankees. That’s who they are. You either love them or love to hate them.

You know true Yankee fans and true Yankee players feed off that when they go on the road and they get booed — man, that must feel great to them, because they matter. You know what I mean? I mean, it really must get them up and excited. I think that’s fantastic. When the Colorado Rockies go to Miami to play, they’re not getting booed. The Miami fan is not going to know anyone except maybe Charlie Blackmon, but the Yankees will get booed everywhere they go, except Yankee Stadium. And I think that incentivizes those Yankee players when they’re on the road.

MLB: You like that negative energy! Let’s say that World Series happens and you attend a game in New York — you want to hear 30,000 New Yorkers booing you?

BC: Yeah, I do. I want to hear it. Earlier this year, I was wearing my Dodger hat at the Yankee game. I have some friends who are friends with Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner family, but I won’t put on a Yankee hat. I don’t want to be disrespectful if I’m their guest. I’m not going to root against the Yankees when they’re playing anyone else. I just want to see a good baseball game. I want to see everybody you know play their hearts out and I’ll applaud a Yankee player if they make an exceptional play. You know, Judge comes up and smacks a home run. It’s like, ‘OK, I gotta give it to you. That’s amazing.’ Or Juan Soto, doing what he does.

By the way they better re-sign him. He’s a perfect complement to Judge, and I think Judge’s year has been enhanced because Juan Soto is in that lineup. That’s a great marriage.

MLB: So, let’s talk a little bit more about the Dodgers. You’ve been watching them for decades, so you can answer this better than most. Who is the greatest left-hander in team history: Clayton Kershaw or Sandy Koufax?

BC: I know Kersh a little bit, and I’ve met Sandy. I’m in awe of both. Sandy was clearly a favorite of mine for many years. He had a very short career, like 10 years, I believe is all he pitched, and you wonder what he would have been able to accomplish, but he went out on top there in the mid ’60s, I think, after the (’66) World Series, but I gotta give it to Kersh now, because he has had to make adjustments, depending on his age and his level of of injury and how his body is changing.

He’s like a fighter in the ring. When they’re young, they’re just brute strength and after a while, they have to become a boxer. They have to adjust and change like Ali, like all the greatest in that sport have had to make some adjustments. And you see Kersh making those adjustments. His fastball’s about 92, well, you better put some movement on that because that’s not going to cut it if you’re just throwing right down the middle. So, he’s had to learn all these new things and how to pitch, and when to throw certain pitches. That’s a sign of a guy who really has that competitive spirit and he wants to go out on top. Whether this is his last season or not, he’s making adjustments along the way, and I couldn’t be prouder of him as a player.

MLB: It’s really interesting to listen to the way you talk about players. You seem to come at it from a craft perspective and what they’re trying to do. Do you think it’s similar to being an actor and how you grow and change through roles and times in life?

BC: I do. It’s a skill position. They have tremendous competition. They get criticized. Actors get criticized. We get reviews — good or bad or indifferent. You have your fans, you have your detractors. I mean, I don’t go to another city and get booed — at least, I don’t think I do, but it’s highly sought after and very competitive.

You adjust and change over the course of years. I am not the same actor I was when in my early 20s, when I first started out. You can’t be, you need to allow your maturity and your body adjustment and your life experience to influence your work, like we’re talking about Kershaw. Maybe they move off of shortstop and go to third base or first.

We just saw Joey Votto retire, and I so respect that guy for what he was able to do all those years in Cincinnati, and then the writing was on the wall that it was going to come to an end. So, he signs with Toronto, goes to Canada, makes his comeback attempt. I think he just realized, ‘My body’s not responding. My body’s not allowing me to do what my mind wants it to do.’ That must be a difficult position to come to that point in your career to say, ‘I think I’ve come to the end.’

I hope he’s completely spent. That’s what you hope when a player comes to that: Drain the tank, and then retire.

MLB: To wrap up, who are the other players that you love to watch?

BC: I think Elly [De La Cruz] is so fun to watch in Cincinnati, and Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] is fun to watch. I love Luis Arraez. I love to watch those players that are hungry for that extra base. They try to stretch a double into a triple and get thrown out, it’s like, ‘Hey, man, but you did it. You went for more, and you did it.’ I love those players that just have all that energy.

MLB: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat baseball for a little while.

BC: Dodgers-Yankees, people! Let’s make it happen.