Yankees legend Mariano Rivera has hilarious strategy for pitching to Aaron Judge

Baseball fans often dream of what it would be like to watch the best pitchers of all time pitch to the best hitters of all time. Matchups like Randy Johnson versus Babe Ruth and Clayton Kershaw versus Barry Bonds are talked about like dream scenarios, but it's not often that the players weigh in.

Recently, former New York Yankees closer, Mariano Rivera, revealed his strategy if he was tasked with pitching to the current best hitter in the league, Aaron Judge.

Rivera didn't beat around the bush or anything like that. He was brutally honest about how he would attack the best hitter of this generation.

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Even baseball legends know there's no safe way to pitch to Aaron Judge

Here's what the best closer of all time had to say:

"I'd just throw over the plate. Just hit it. Hit it at someone," Rivera said. "I'm not going to fight with him. I'll pick my fight with somebody else."

This sentiment is similar to the one the great Greg Maddux discussed, noting that Barry Bonds was the easiest hitter to pitch to. Maddux would say that if the situation mattered at all, you would just walk Bonds and pick a fight with somebody else.

As for Judge, he's beginning to get that same level of respect for Barry Bonds as he continues to put up Bonds-esque numbers. Obviously, he's not on the 73-homer or 1.400 OPS level just yet, but Judge is the closest thing to that since the early 2000s steroid era.

I think the entire league can learn a thing or two from this interview with Rivera. If the best closer of all time would rather pick the fight with somebody else, why in the world would today's pitchers continue to pick fights with Judge?

And a lot of people like to try to break down how they would pitch to Judge, mostly saying sliders away. But if each pitch isn't perfectly executed, the pitcher is going to be asking the umpire for a new ball as Judge rounds the bases.

It'll be very interesting to see how pitchers adapt to attacking Judge as the year finishes and the games grow more and more important. In the playoffs, a manager could get fired for letting Judge beat them rather than picking a fight with somebody else.