Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team revoked All-Star center fielder Andy Pages' ability to challenge pitches after the first game of the NLDS. Pages, 25, lost the Dodgers a challenge in the second inning of Saturday's win, tapping his helmet on a pitch well within the strike zone to send him back to the dugout in a low-leverage situation. The outfielder didn't have much success in the Automated Ball-Strike system's first year in MLB, challenging the most of any player on his team throughout the regular season and postseason while posting the lowest net runs for and net overturns for on the roster.
Pages challenged 26 times on the season, including his sole postseason game, winning just 11 of those efforts for a 42% successful challenge rate. Of his 26 challenges, 20 of them came in low or very low leverage situations, and he lost 10 of those—unnecessarily costing his team one of their two challenges 50% of the time. As a team, the Dodgers graded above average in terms of challenges.
They overturned 51% of challenges as batters, ranking 2% above the 49% league average, and had a 58% overturn rate on the fielding side compared to a 54% league average. That being said, they utilized less challenges than most teams in MLB, utilizing the third-fewest challenges on defense in MLB and ranking in the bottom half of the league with offensive challenges. The Dodgers likely had this talk with a few other players, but some of their stars may have more leeway with tapping their helmet than others.
Mookie Betts was the Dodgers' most successful challenger during the regular season, winning 12 of his challenges while losing just six. His 67% successful overturn rate rated highest among Dodgers with more than 10 challenges. Teoscar Hernández also had a decent success rate, winning 11 of his 20 challenges for a 55% success rate, and Freddie Freeman had a 71% success rate in his seven challenges.
With their guidelines set, the Dodgers are looking to win the second game of their postseason run to take a 2-0 lead to Atlanta in the NLDS. They have Blake Snell on the mound for Sunday's game, and will look to earn a decisive win as they chase the first three-peat in National League history this year.
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