On the eve of Game 3 of the World Series<\/a>, it might not have been a coincidence.<\/p>\n After using the same nine players in their starting lineup in six straight games since the start of the National League Championship Series<\/a>, the Dodgers have been considering a change for Monday \u2014 one that could drop struggling second-year slugger Andy Pages<\/a> to the bench.<\/p>\n While the Dodgers\u2019 overall offense has been inconsistent this postseason, Pages has endured the most glaring slump. He has collected just four hits in 43 at-bats, registering a .093 average. He has 11 strikeouts, no walks, and only one extra-base knock, providing little pop or spark from the No. 9 spot.<\/p>\n Manager Dave Roberts<\/a> acknowledged before Game 2 that he was mulling whether to keep Pages in the lineup. And though the 24-year-old outfielder, who had 27 home runs and 86 RBIs in the regular season, had a hit and run scored on Saturday, Roberts reiterated Sunday that making a move with Pages was \u201cstill on the table\u201d and \u201cfront of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust trying to figure out where he\u2019s at mentally, physically,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThe performance hasn\u2019t been there. So thinking of other options, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n One reason the Dodgers have stuck with Pages is because of their limited defensive alternatives \u2014 including, first and foremost, utilityman Tommy Edman being restricted to only second base this October because of a lingering ankle injury.<\/p>\n Edman, who split time last postseason between center field and shortstop, did say this weekend that his ankle was feeling better (even though he didn\u2019t close the door on potentially needing surgery this offseason). But Roberts noted that Edman \u201chasn\u2019t taken a fly ball out there in a month,\u201d casting continued doubt over his ability to play anywhere else.<\/p>\n Without Edman, Hern\u00e1ndez is the only other true center-field option for the Dodgers to use in their starting lineup, having also played there during the team\u2019s World Series run last year. This postseason, Hern\u00e1ndez has been a fixture in left (while also mixing in at third base). But if he were to slide to center field for Game 3, it could open left field for someone like Alex Call.<\/p>\n Call, a trade deadline acquisition who was a part-time player down the stretch in the regular season, does not represent as much of a power threat as Pages, but is a better contact hitter with more on-base ability.<\/p>\n Of course, the Dodgers\u2019 offensive inconsistencies have gone beyond Pages.<\/p>\n They have not topped five runs in a game since the wild-card round. They have hit just .216 as a team since the start of the division series. Shohei Ohtani<\/a> and Freddie Freeman<\/a> are still batting under .225 in the playoffs. Mookie Betts is batting .136 since the start of the NLCS.<\/p>\n During their Game 2 win<\/a>, Roberts felt the club missed a lot of hittable pitches against Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, before Will Smith and Max Muncy<\/a> finally broke through with home runs in the seventh.<\/p>\n That, Roberts felt, was a sign his lineup was \u201ca little bit in between\u201d in its approach, squandering opportunities to do damage against fastballs over the plate while also trying to protect against breaking stuff out of the zone.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have made good pitches, but we have missed pitches as well,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI do think that coming home, I feel that we\u2019re back into a little bit of a rhythm offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps shaking up the lineup will help, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> After taking his normal round of infield grounders during the Dodgers\u2019 off-day workout Sunday, Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":335485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[5955,1582,276,54709,2442,95788,1910,5949,6539,2961,42296,224,5337,15433,26804,4712,22799,166062,166063,154127],"class_list":{"0":"post-335484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-andy-pages","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-center-field","12":"tag-dodgers","13":"tag-edman","14":"tag-game","15":"tag-home-run","16":"tag-kike-hernandez","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-lineup","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-page","22":"tag-roberts","23":"tag-shohei-ohtani","24":"tag-start","25":"tag-toronto-chant","26":"tag-workout-sunday","27":"tag-world-series-game"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115444754341180604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761547038_315_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n