Andy Pages' bad postseason reputation just hit another level with Dodgers' ABS ban

Andy Pages has done a lot of things right this season, but ABS challenges isn't one of them. He was 11-for-25 in the regular season, which led the team in both challenges and losses.

On August 12, after the Los Angeles Dodgers were trying to bounce back from losing five straight games to open the month, Pages made his 25th challenge of the season as the second batter of the game. He lost. He went onto the IL a little over a week later, but didn't challenge again before he got injured.

Whatever clear ban Dave Roberts and the Dodgers had placed on him was evidently lifted by the NLDS. In the bottom of the second, Pages challenged a ball called a strike at the bottom of the zone by home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz, whose zone was already all over the place. Pages lost.

It conjured up memories Dodgers fans were more than happy to forget. LA managed to keep their second and last challenge intact throughout the rest of the game, but something had to be done. Wasting challenges in the regular season is one thing; the postseason is another.

Roberts was moved to have a conversation with his player that was long overdue. Pages has been instructed (read: banned) from challenging pitches through the rest of the postseason.

Dodgers ban Andy Pages from ABS challenges after blowing another in NLDS Game 1

Pages is already coming into this postseason with a very, very bad postseason reputation. Through Game 4 of last year's World Series, his .215 OPS was the worst single-postseason mark of any player with at least 50 plate appearances, ever. He was left out of the lineup for Game 5 and only got one plate appearance across Games 6 and 7 (he didn't get on base).

He's not off to a great start in this year's NLDS. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Game 1. He's coming straight off of an injury with zero runway in the regular season, so it might be a little more understandable, but it certainly doesn't help the narrative.

At least he can't do the team anymore harm by losing a key challenge in a tight spot — especially not as early as the second inning. As good as he was during the regular season, he still ended up fifth on the Dodgers' strikeout leaderboard despite missing over a month of the regular season.

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