Dave Roberts' recent crackdown on Dodgers might be coming for ABS challenges next

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have swept the Kansas City Royals, but the offense is going to have to start firing on all cylinders again. It's one thing to beat up on the Royals, the third-worst team in the league, and another to take on some of the best teams in the National League — with LA is doing this weekend with the Milwaukee Brewers in town.

After their series loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dave Roberts didn't hold back on his players. After Freddie Freeman insisted that everything was fine, that the Dodgers were a good team, Roberts set the record straight: "We're a Wild Card team."

The skipper alluded to tightening the leash on his superteam in other ways after the skid. After Andy Pages and Miguel Rojas burned LA's ABS challenges by the end of fourth inning in Monday's game, he warned that the Dodgers might be getting close to the point of banning certain players from challenging pitches in certain parts of the game.

Pages put himself at the top of Roberts' list on Wednesday. He challenged a called strike at the bottom of the zone and wasted one of LA's challenges just two batters into the game.

Dodgers' poor showing with ABS challenges continues with Andy Pages gaffe

On the whole, Dodgers batters have actually had some decent success with the challenge system this season; they're the sixth-most successful ABS challengers with a 52% win rate. LA's pitchers and catchers have been less effective; they're 12th in the league with a 60% win rate.

However, they've been far less discerning since their record started to slip in July. Alex Call went viral early in that month for using both of the Dodgers' challenges in his first-at bat in the first inning of a game. Entering play on Tuesday, the Dodgers had -5.3 net runs through the challenge system.

Pages, in particular, has been a problem for LA. His 25 challenges lead Dodgers hitters, but so do his 14 losses. They've been good for a -1.0 net run value. Call and Rojas have posted a -0.3 and -0.2 respectively.

In the grand scheme of things, the Dodgers are far from the game's worst when it comes to the challenge system, but while they're mired in one of their worst offensive downturns in recent memory, Roberts can and should make an example out of a few of his players.

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