Monday, October 05
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know, brought to you by David Adler. Today, we look at why one player lost his postseason challenging privileges, preview tonight’s ALDS games and take one more look at Jackson Chourio’s epic walk-off.
We’ve already seen an ABS challenge win a playoff game. This one was … not that.
Dodgers slugger Andy Pages has been banned from challenging (by his own manager) after a particularly ill-advised challenge in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Pages wasted one of Los Angeles’ two challenges trying to overturn a strikeout … in the second inning … with two outs and nobody on base … on a fastball that was well within the strike zone.
It just wasn’t the time to risk losing a challenge. This is the postseason, and you want to have your challenges when you need them in a big moment. (Exhibit A: Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto flipping a called ball to a game-ending strikeout in the NL Wild Card Series.)
So Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts has taken away Pages’ challenging privileges until further notice — like how a basestealer caught one too many times might lose his green light.
As Roberts put it: “We’ve managed that one going forward.”
Pages, who has won just 42% of his challenge attempts this season (that is not very good), already took one challenge hiatus this year. When the Dodgers went on a seven-game losing streak in August, Roberts addressed the team, Pages included, regarding ABS usage. Then Pages didn’t challenge a single time in the regular season after Aug. 12 — when he lost a challenge on an eerily similar pitch to the NLDS snafu.
We’re sensing a theme here … Nearly all of Pages’ failed challenges this season have been on pitches along the bottom edge of the strike zone.
Not everyone can have a Mookie Betts-type eye at the plate. Maybe a little challenge vacation will help Pages out in the long run.
TONIGHT’S ALDS MATCHUPS
The Rays and White Sox are looking to take commanding 2-0 leads in the American League Division Series. The Yankees and Guardians are looking to even things up — and lucky for them, they both have dominant aces going.
Let’s take a look at the games, and the biggest storylines to watch for.
White Sox at Guardians
5 p.m. ET, (TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max)
Pitching matchup: Anthony Kay (White Sox) vs. Gavin Williams (Guardians)
The White Sox beat Cleveland’s first ace, Parker Messick, in Game 1. Can they beat another one in Game 2? Williams is the American League strikeout king. He racked up 248 K’s in the regular season, including an MLB-best 11 games with double-digit strikeouts. Williams had 28 K’s in four starts against Chicago — but the Sox won three of those four games.
Starting lineups
White Sox
1. Sam Antonacci, LF
2. Kyle Teel, C
3. Miguel Vargas, 3B
4. Munetaka Murakami, 1B
5. Andrew Benintendi, DH
6. Tristan Peters, CF
7. Braden Montgomery, RF
8. Chase Meidroth, 2B
9. Colson Montgomery, SS
Guardians
1. Steven Kwan, CF
2. José Ramírez, 3B
3. Chase DeLauter, RF
4. Jo Adell, DH
5. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
6. Angel Martínez, LF
7. Travis Bazzana, 2B
8. Patrick Bailey, C
9. Brayan Rocchio, SS
Key storyline: Can the White Sox go home undefeated?
The White Sox are 3-0 in the playoffs, they’ve outscored their opponents 16-6, and they’ve led at the end of 24 of the 27 innings they’ve played so far. And all of that has been on the road! This fan-favorite team hasn’t even gotten to play in front of its home crowd yet — and if the Sox go back to Chicago with a 2-0 lead in this series, Rate Field will be electric on Wednesday.
***
Yankees at Rays
8 p.m. ET (TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max)
Pitching matchup: Cam Schlittler (Yankees) vs. Freddy Peralta (Rays)
Schlittler dominated all regular season. He dominated the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. Can he dominate the Rays in the ALDS? The Yankees need a gem from their Cy Young favorite to get back into this series against their division rivals. Will Schlittler have a new wrinkle in store for the AL’s No. 1 seed like he did for his start against the Sox, when he threw a career-high number of curveballs?
Key storyline: Can the Rays keep shutting down a Judge-less lineup?
Drew Rasmussen nearly no-hit the Yankees in Game 1. Can their big Trade Deadline acquisition, Peralta, shut down the Bronx Bombers, too? Peralta will be pitching in front of a Tropicana Field crowd like the Rays haven’t seen in 16 years, and he’s been great for the Rays down the stretch. With Aaron Judge still out, Ben Rice & Co. will have to find a way to come up with the big swings like they did in the Wild Card round.
CHOURIO’S WALK-OFF, STEP BY STEP
Jackson Chourio’s walk-off against Mason Miller last night was just awesome (well, except if you’re the Padres). We can’t get enough of it. So let’s take one more look at Chourio’s instant-classic playoff moment from start to finish.
The battle
Chourio had to fight his heart out just to get the chance at one big swing. He was down to his last strike. He had to foul off a 104 mph fastball from the Padres closer — Miller’s fastest pitch of the game — and then somehow lay off an 89 mph slider just below the strike zone right afterwards.
The swing
After Chourio took that slider, Miller went back to his fastball. He dialed it up to 101 mph. But this time Chourio was ready. The heater that came in at 101 mph left Chourio’s bat at 110 mph — the second-hardest base hit off a pitch that fast in the postseason since Statcast started tracking in 2015.
Chourio, by the way, is no stranger to hammering playoff heat — last year, he belted a huge home run off a 101 mph fastball from Daniel Palencia in the NLDS against the Cubs. He and Alex Bregman are now the only players with multiple postseason hits off 101-plus mph fastballs in the pitch-tracking era, which goes back to 2008.
The sprint
Chourio’s rocket shot past a diving Jake Cronenworth was only half the battle. The Brewers still had to score the walk-off run. That was up to Sal Frelick, the runner on second base. And Frelick ran for his life.
Frelick reached a top sprint speed of 30.2 feet per second on his mad dash to the plate — anything 30 ft/sec or faster is elite MLB speed — and went from second to home in just 6.59 seconds. Frelick got home so fast that you might have forgotten Jackson Merrill fired a 99.1 mph strike from center field to the plate. That throw got away from Freddy Fermin, but even if it hadn’t, Frelick was already diving past the Padres catcher. (Maybe it was the tight turn around third, like manager Pat Murphy said afterwards.)
Think about everything the Brewers’ walk-off entailed: A 101 mph pitch … a 110 mph hit … a 99 mph throw … a 30 ft/sec sprint. That’s just speed, speed, speed and more speed. What a way to win a playoff game.
VOTE NOW FOR HANK AARON AWARD
The 2026 Hank Aaron Award finalists were just announced today. Vote now for the winner.
The Hank Aaron Award is given to the most outstanding offensive player in the American League and National League every season. Here are all of this year’s finalists:
American League
- Pete Alonso – Baltimore Orioles
- Yordan Alvarez – Houston Astros
- Randy Arozarena – Seattle Mariners
- Junior Caminero – Tampa Bay Rays
- Willson Contreras – Boston Red Sox
- Yandy Díaz – Tampa Bay Rays
- Riley Greene – Detroit Tigers
- Ben Rice – New York Yankees
- Miguel Vargas – Chicago White Sox
- Bobby Witt Jr. – Kansas City Royals
National League
- CJ Abrams – Washington Nationals
- Jake Bauers – Milwaukee Brewers
- Pete Crow-Armstrong – Chicago Cubs
- Elly De La Cruz – Cincinnati Reds
- Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers
- Matt Olson – Atlanta Braves
- Kyle Schwarber – Philadelphia Phillies
- Sal Stewart – Cincinnati Reds
- Fernando Tatis Jr. – San Diego Padres
- Jordan Walker – St. Louis Cardinals
Fans can vote from now through next Monday, Oct. 12 at 11:59 a.m. ET at MLB.com/Aaron.
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