r/baseball • u/ttam23 Los Angeles Dodgers • 7h ago

[Dodger Blue] Dave Roberts has put an end to Andy Pages using ABS challenges

https://bsky.app/profile/dodgerblue1958.bsky.social/post/3mx3d4b4zjg2a
1.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

131 comments sorted by

1.1k

u/PenguinKing15 Atlanta Braves • Chaos Bandwagon 7h ago

I wonder if there are any other players who have been banned from ABS challenges by their managers, but we don’t know.

754

u/cmgriffith_ New York Yankees 7h ago

Jazz Chisholm Jr. should be

165

u/CieraVotedOutHerMom Seattle Mariners 7h ago

Ban him from infield lollipops first

113

u/cmgriffith_ New York Yankees 7h ago

He was. Aaron Boone told him never to take a lollipop on the field again after the incident

55

u/CieraVotedOutHerMom Seattle Mariners 7h ago

Just an absolutely ridiculous moment that went league wide viral

13

u/Aggravating_Bat3618 3h ago

No fuckin way Steinbrenner would have even let it happen in the first place. 

2

u/grubas New York Yankees 1h ago

George would have traded Lombard Jr and Schlitter for Jazz then gone OFF on Jazz for EVERYTHING.

8

u/carharttuxedo Washington Nationals 3h ago

The incident…Lol such a funny way to discribe someone eating a lollipop.

28

u/imirritatedaf Toronto Blue Jays 6h ago

Add Alejandro Kirk to that list.

34

u/Jazzlike_Athlete8796 Toronto Blue Jays 6h ago

Kirk at the plate was abysmal. Behind the plate he was top 10 for about 2/3rds of the season. Valenzuela was the complete opposite.

1

u/OhfursureJim Toronto Blue Jays 9m ago

There couldn’t be a player worse on challenges from the plate. Just awful

7

u/BAHatesToFly New York Mets 5h ago

Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos

1

u/mostly_bs_41 1h ago

Randy Arozerena

23

u/Kaplsauce Toronto Blue Jays 7h ago

No way, they should be saved for him specifically!

14

u/Actual_Cobbler_6334 Toronto Blue Jays • San Diego Padres 7h ago

As should Freddy Fermin.

9

u/CieraVotedOutHerMom Seattle Mariners 7h ago

I was at a padres game in April where Fermin was injured mid game and Campusano played way better in relief.

I still have the padres puffer vest in my closet from that game

1

u/OUTFOXEM Dodgers Bandwagon 3h ago

I was going to say you mean Felix Fermin?

Then I remembered yesterday I said Clay Bellinger.

Goddamn I’m old.

4

u/Sports_hysterics New York Yankees 5h ago

Amen. Dude is a terrorist when it comes to ABS challenges

2

u/KnightlyOccurrence Milwaukee Brewers 3h ago

Gary Sanchez too!

3

u/AdFamous7894 Chicago Cubs 2h ago

PCA should have been.

1

u/1060nm Boston Red Sox • Tim Wakefield 4h ago

And Rafaela. My optimistic king.

78

u/Awkward_Medicine_864 Philadelphia Phillies 7h ago

Harper had the second most abs challenges and was wrong more than he was right so I’d say him

57

u/KyloRaine0424 Philadelphia Phillies 6h ago

And always in like the first inning with no one on and two outs

28

u/invalid_bagel Philadelphia Phillies 5h ago

I'm pretty sure someone tried to tell him about strategy for ABS challenges and not to use them in low leverage situations so he decided to start using them in the first inning as a protest "fuck you dont tell me what to do."

It's the only thing that makes sense when you look at the way he did his challenges

33

u/paulcosmith Philadelphia Phillies 5h ago

I don't think that's it. I just think he's so arrogant self-confident that he genuinely believes that if he didn't swing, the pitch wasn't a strike.

Just like how he thinks he's still as fast as he was ten years ago when deciding whether or not to take an extra base.

6

u/BlazmoIntoWowee Philadelphia Phillies 5h ago

That’s the whole interview with new managerial candidates.

25

u/Raptor231408 Arizona Diamondbacks 7h ago

Im thoroughly convinced that Torey Lovullo at some points during the season said that only the catcher can challenge, and rookies absolutely not full stop.

2

u/Aponthis Arizona Diamondbacks 2h ago

Not allowing pitcher to challenge is pretty much universal... unless you are Shohei Ohtani. But he hits as well, so I guess he is allowed.

21

u/StillYourFavorite331 Boston Red Sox 7h ago

Hopefully Cedanne is never allowed to.

He was one of the worst all year.

3

u/PleasantHamster77 Boston Red Sox 5h ago

Came here to say this but I know someone must’ve beaten me to it.

21

u/WAR_T0RN1226 Tampa Bay Rays 7h ago

Kevin Cash needs to ban Yandy Diaz from not using ABS challenges

1

u/Stone_0cean New York Mets • Seattle Mariners 15m ago

This but with Francisco Lindor

27

u/kingwoodballs Toronto Blue Jays 7h ago

Hopefully Vlad Jr. he was awful this year with it.

15

u/sameth1 Toronto Blue Jays 6h ago

Vlad has never not believed in himself. In 2025 we saw enough walking to first after taking strike 2 that I knew he would make questionable choices with ABS.

4

u/imirritatedaf Toronto Blue Jays 6h ago

Kirk was worse with ABS

-8

u/shellac10 Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

I have it from a good source he won't be challenging at all this postseason.

19

u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-8684 Philadelphia Phillies • Seattle Mariners 7h ago

Has Jazz Chisholm been banned from challenging yet?

38

u/SpiralRavine Seattle Mariners • Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

Randy Arozarena and Josh Naylor should’ve been but Dan Wilson was a dickless coward

23

u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe Chicago Cubs • Lou Gehrig 6h ago

PCA honestly shouldn't have been allowed to use as many as he did either. Sometimes managers feel beholden to stars.

8

u/ComputerLess8024 5h ago

It’s just insane to me how just… dumb some of these challenges are from players. Like there’s 2 out no one on and you’re challenging? It’s really just an incredible lack of baseball IQ.

3

u/ricki692 Atlanta Braves 5h ago

i think it's just because they're so focused on hitting that they lose sight of all that, especially because you're only allowed to to like 2 seconds after the call to challenge.

1

u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe Chicago Cubs • Lou Gehrig 5h ago

It becomes an ego thing

1

u/floppyfare Chicago White Sox 43m ago

Its a weird and unique situation where individual players have the discretion to use team challenges on plays that effect their individual stats. I'm sure its a mix of ego and selfishness.

13

u/ftmidk Seattle Mariners 6h ago

That’s gotta be one of the interview questions for candidates. That and “what do you do when one of your players is injured but they’re a twenty something dumbass so they pretend they aren’t?”

4

u/Nocto Seattle Mariners 6h ago

Yeah what the fuck, Randy. Give some of his to Cole Young.

5

u/inbigtreble30 Milwaukee Brewers 6h ago

Hopefully Gary Sanchez is next.

2

u/buttever Milwaukee Brewers 2h ago

El Gary, if that happens:

https://giphy.com/gifs/ftXmTBgSnsJ8c

3

u/Zariman-10-0 Philadelphia Phillies • Phanatic 3h ago

Whoever the next manager of the Phillies HAS to ban Harper from ABS challenges in the first few innings of a game

3

u/theastrosballhawk Houston Astros 6h ago

Cam Smith should’ve been

2

u/vivalavida89 Baltimore Orioles 6h ago

There were points this year where it seemed like Coby mayo and samuel basallo had lost challenge privileges lol

1

u/Spiceguy-65 Cleveland Guardians 6h ago

Gabriel arias I’m pretty sure was banned from using them when he played with CLE earlier this year

1

u/mirabery Cleveland Guardians 6h ago

Jose Ramirez has a self imposed ban.

1

u/International-Suit96 Baltimore Orioles 6h ago

I don’t know if they outright banned him, but Coby Mayo used to blow challenges early in the season and then he stopped even if it seemed like he wanted to

166

u/crab_soul Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

It’s not personal Sonny it’s strictly business

246

u/pythagorium 7h ago

Legacy defining managerial decision

2

u/dawnoog Los Angeles Dodgers 1h ago

Up there with subbing Pages in for Edman in Game 7

511

u/SlyAbleman New York Mets 7h ago

Seems harsh

32

u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe Chicago Cubs • Lou Gehrig 6h ago

Anything to get the DRS guys to call Pete the best CF lol.

56

u/stormdraggy Toronto Blue Jays 6h ago

Andy Pages has been compromised to a permanent end.

1

u/Solar424 Baltimore Orioles 1h ago

Emmanuel Clase’s gambling buddies did not like him costing them all that money

5

u/7tenths Chicago Cubs 3h ago

Mlbpa take note. A few dodger sacrifices can stop a salary  cap

537

u/toomuchredditing Los Angeles Dodgers • World Series Tr… 7h ago

dave roberts gave pages the death glare like samuel l jackson in pulp fiction after pages's challenge yesterday

162

u/Loud-Bunny-33 7h ago

A substantial portion of the fanbase did as well.  As if it wasn’t already 103° on the field….

44

u/SparkleCobraDude Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

Especially once they showed the entire ball was in the strike zone and it was only the 3rd or 4th inning.

40

u/TooMuchPowerful Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

And after Mookie took one for the team and didn't challenge an obvious ball 4 call in the 1st!

29

u/orbesomebodysfool Los Angeles Dodgers • Vin Scully 6h ago

2nd inning

2 outs

No one on

As low leverage a situation you could possibly imagine. Terrible, terrible ABS challenge

5

u/gladvillain Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks • Los Angel… 5h ago

EK would have been LIVID

26

u/toomuchredditing Los Angeles Dodgers • World Series Tr… 7h ago

english motherfucker do you speak it

70

u/m38-111 New York Yankees 5h ago

218

u/sEiize_err Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

23

u/Venomswindturd Houston Astros 6h ago

This graphic gets me every time lmao

3

u/teenzoid Major League Baseball 5h ago

What's the context?

19

u/AustinJohnson35 Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

In this image Drew McIntyre the wrestler in the picture was feuding with CM Punk, Punk had gotten hurt in a royal rumble and it spawned a bunch of Drew McIntyre one liners including saying he prayed for CM Punk to get hurt and it happened.

1

u/teenzoid Major League Baseball 5h ago

hahahah, thank you.

11

u/4r4r4real 5h ago

He prayed for this. And it happened. 

1

u/teenzoid Major League Baseball 4h ago

Thanks, Scrote.

1

u/SoKrat3s Atlanta Braves 4h ago

...but why now?

132

u/Budget-Ocelots Major League Baseball 7h ago

Challenging and leveraging the situation isn’t even that hard of a concept.

Never use it if it 2 outs with no scoring play. Never use it until the 6th unless the earlier inning has someone on base with 1 out, giving you two more outs to get them home.

It is so basic. Save all the challenges for your closers unless there is a potential scoring play.

78

u/Mountain_Tadpole_531 7h ago

For hitters maybe, but a lot of catchers like jt realmuto have gotten extremely good at it

40

u/Conflict21 New York Yankees 7h ago

Austin Wells rounding second base erased the good will he should have for keeping us in that game with his challenges and a PERFECTLY GOOD DOUBLE. Seriously he and Cole were our whole team.

16

u/SandF New York Yankees 6h ago

Wellsy erased the no-hitter too. A loss is not good and he ran the bases like a drunk but I'll take it if only for the consolation of not getting no-hit in the playoffs

12

u/Conflict21 New York Yankees 6h ago

It was an emotional rollercoaster of a play, that's for sure

6

u/SandF New York Yankees 6h ago

I'm just happy to see how much more productive Wells has been at the plate in the 2nd half and into the postseason after that abysmal first half. I'm really pulling for him and happy we didn't "upgrade" at the deadline if he can turn it around at the plate. His defense, pitch calling, throwing out runners, relations with pitching staff are all top notch, so....overall, I'll take the aggression.

15

u/ElegantSwordsman Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

I mean I wouldn’t have been mad if Mookie used it on ball four in the first inning vs strike three. Immediately put pressure on a bullpen game pitcher in the first inning of a playoff game. Saves an out and gets a runner on in front of Shohei Ohtani. And it was clearly outside.

Obviously the same pitch more borderline in the same situation isn’t worth it.

5

u/PJCR1916 Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

I thought that particular pitch was framed well and could understand why Mookie didn’t challenge. He’s got a great eye for the zone but he clearly wasn’t 100% sure which is why he wasn’t willing to use a challenge in a playoff game when there hadn’t even been an out recorded yet.

6

u/Kaldricus Seattle Mariners • Chaos Bandwagon 6h ago

Eh, I think it's fine for SOME players to use it in lower leverage spots where it's pretty egregious. But not every player has shown they have the eye for it. As much as it sucks seeing players blow bad challenges, it also sucks watching them not challenge ones where they know, the other team knows, and the umpire knows it will get overturned, but are saving it for a high leverage spot.

40

u/SarahJFroxy Los Angeles Dodgers • White Sox Bandwagon 7h ago

it only took an entire season but we did it

34

u/scottborasismyagent Los Angeles Dodgers • MLB Players Association 7h ago edited 7h ago

andy pages : mírame.

challenges pitch down the middle in the second inning

umpire : pitch is confirmed. LA has 1 challenge remaining

26

u/wobbleboxsoldier Atlanta Braves 6h ago

Supposedly, Chris Sale said he refuses to challenge because he would think the ball going into the dugout was still a strike.

21

u/chilled_sloth Brooklyn Dodgers 6h ago

When asked why by Pages, Dave showed him replays of every ABS challenge he made this season.

"It could have gone either way." was Pages' response.

4

u/gladvillain Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks • Los Angel… 5h ago

As bad as Pages has been the most egregious was Call’s 2-in-1 AB

3

u/chilled_sloth Brooklyn Dodgers 4h ago

Why do you think he was left off the roster?

3

u/Ok_Fee1043 Boston Red Sox 4h ago

A challenge of my challenge is my enemy

18

u/Jonjon428 Florida Marlins 7h ago

B A N N E D

14

u/mxza10001 New York Mets 7h ago

I wish we did that with Francisco Alvarez

4

u/grrgrrtigergrr Chicago White Sox 6h ago

I honestly wish we did this with Mune. For as solid as he is, and his ability to draw walks, he seems awful with challenges.

17

u/jujubats10 Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

Lmaaoo

5

u/MyDogThinksISmell 6h ago

Can Boone revoke Jazz Chisholm Jr's ability to call a challenge?

1

u/DominicB547 Chaos Bandwagon • MLB Players Associat… 4h ago

clubhouse fines are not enough apparently.

20

u/ih-unh-unh Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

By percentage, Pages isn't the worst playing this series (minimum 10 challenges):

Matt Olson - 30%
Michael Harris II - 33%
Shohei Ohtani - 43%
Kyle Tucker - 43%
Andy Pages - 44%

51

u/Holiday_Side_6951 Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

I wonder the timing of those changes. Problem with Pages was that often he would waste challenges so early in the game, not like some of the players who would use even if they were not 100% sure because it's late in the game and they have extrra.

12

u/Wutswrong Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

The eye test tells me Pages has the worst challenges in the worst situations. If Ohtani challenges a pitch that’s 0.1 inch wrong with a guy on 1st and 3rd, it’s whatever.

Pages will challenge 2nd inning no one on, two outs, full baseball in the zone

1

u/yomonkey9 Atlanta Braves 1h ago

I hope someone smart finds a good Stat for challenges. Like there has to be a WAR for this kinda thing

5

u/Caledor152 New York Mets 5h ago

ANDY PAGES HAS BEEN ELIMINATED ...From Challenges

4

u/SpecialistReach6371 6h ago

I don’t know if Ceddanne Rafaela was banned by the team but he did finally calm down later in the year. I don’t think I’ve seen Ceddanne get one right

9

u/DataDude00 6h ago

Feels like the kind of thing you do in the clubhouse but don’t announce? 

Changes pitching strategy if you know he doesn’t have a green light to challenge close calls 

10

u/RickySuela 6h ago

It's possible him publicly saying this is just gamesmanship. I don't think the Braves should feel like there is a 0% chance Pages challenges again just cause Dave Roberts said this.

1

u/othelloblack 56m ago

Like how would that change how you pitch?

1

u/DataDude00 52m ago

If you know an umpire has an expanded zone historically  you could target that area knowing Pages won’t challenge things that are close or out of the zone 

0

u/DominicB547 Chaos Bandwagon • MLB Players Associat… 4h ago

well clubhouse has banned Jazz that hasn't worked. well more accurately fine him, but again thats not enough apparently. If Boone went public then in Jazz's contract year bad teammate would spread like wildfire if he uses challenges going forward..

6

u/lionheart4life Baltimore Orioles 6h ago

I could see this being a future amendment to the rule. Manager can declare one player ineligible to use challenges before the game.

3

u/Scmods05 San Diego Padres 5h ago

This is the kind of managing I can get behind

2

u/KinsellaStella Washington Nationals 6h ago

Not, like, months ago?

2

u/timntin Washington Nationals 4h ago

Oh my god he killed him.

2

u/AccomplishedFill8092 Philadelphia Phillies 4h ago

I once saw Harper waste it on an 0-1 pitch in the top of the first with nobody on and 2 outs. I wish they would ban him from challenges. What’s worse is I saw him on Mookie’s podcast and Harper even admitted he was bad at ABS.

4

u/mysterymetal3000 New York Mets 6h ago

Roberts: “Pages uses ABS….straight to jail.”

5

u/CieraVotedOutHerMom Seattle Mariners 7h ago

Baseball baddie Kait did a great deep dive into Pages and his journey from Cuba.

Rooting for him!

1

u/xinixxibalba Los Angeles Dodgers • Chicago White Sox 7h ago

that’s why he’s the greatest manager of all time

1

u/pargofan Los Angeles Dodgers • World Series Tr… 5h ago

I think Dave got a little emotional.

You could tell he was circumspect about everything. Then it's only later he says Pages can't challenge balls/strikes.

Kinda embarrassed him needlessly IMO

1

u/Competitive-Body-286 Milwaukee Brewers • Rays Bandwagon 6h ago

You can just do that?

1

u/WesternAd8208 Los Angeles Dodgers 6h ago

This is the right call. Andy is such a great player this will only improve his performance

1

u/IMightBeLyingToYou Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

Finally, bro's been abysmal with them the entire season.

-1

u/DominicB547 Chaos Bandwagon • MLB Players Associat… 4h ago edited 4h ago

I mean how is this even possible? you can say you ban them but as far as I know the umps will still give it if the player asks.

I think Jazz has been banned and yet he continues. More accurately there is a clubhouse fine system and a public no we will consider that later about actually banning him.

-18

u/kingofmymachine Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

I feel like a manager shouldn't publicly dog their player like this. You can privately tell them not to challenge anymore while also publicly saying you have full trust in them🤷‍♂️

7

u/Unique-Pressure-1130 7h ago

Please no more Aaron Boone die on every hill manager instead of EVER taking accountability. This is just fine lol

4

u/postulate4 Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

He didn’t even say anything harsh. They are postseason veterans. Any player on the roster should know to swallow their pride for the benefit of the team.