LOS ANGELES — When the Dodgers performed their ultimate must-win World Collection video games in Toronto final autumn, Andy Pages was overlooked of the beginning lineups. That is develop into a part of the lens by way of which his 2025 season is considered, however a poor ending shouldn’t imply that the complete physique of labor will get missed.
Pages hit extra house runs (27) than any Dodger not named Shohei Ohtani and established himself as a stable defender in middle discipline throughout the common season, however he fully dropped off on the plate throughout the playoffs, posting a .211 OPS that was the bottom on file in a single postseason (min. 50 plate appearances).
On an evening that started with the Dodgers elevating their 2025 World Collection banner and celebrating their back-to-back championships, Pages confirmed that the dismal finish to final 12 months is behind him by hitting a go-ahead three-run homer and making a slick sliding catch in Thursday’s 8-2 Opening Day win over the D-backs at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s actually an enormous enhance to his confidence,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “However I’ll say this, even coming into this spring, he was in nice form, and his mindset was in a great spot. So I’m certain that fireside, that gasoline to not relinquish his place or his job, is one thing that motivates him.”
Not solely was it the Dodgers’ first house run of their three-peat bid, but it surely was additionally the primary lengthy ball for the reason that taking part in floor at Dodger Stadium grew to become UNIQLO Subject on the eve of Opening Day.
“It will take me a short time to familiarize myself with the title,” Pages mentioned by way of interpreter Juan Dorado. “However I used to be actually pleased to hit the house run, for certain.”
Proper-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto tossed a high quality begin in his season debut, solely surrendering a two-run homer throughout six sturdy innings, however the Dodgers’ offense took a while to get up. D-backs starter Zac Gallen allowed a leadoff single to Ohtani however retired 12 of his subsequent 13 batters.
It wasn’t till the fifth inning that the floodgates opened for the Dodgers.
Third baseman Max Muncy and left fielder Teoscar Hernández led off the body with back-to-back base hits. Pages adopted by crushing a 1-2 curveball into the Left Subject Pavilion seats. The Dodgers stored the stress on from there, chasing Gallen after he allowed his fifth straight batter to achieve with out recording an out within the fifth, and added one other run on a Will Smith RBI single.
L.A. scored eight unanswered runs after being down 2-0 by way of 4 innings.
“It’s 27 outs. We’re by no means out of it,” shortstop Mookie Betts mentioned. “We are able to begin it from wherever within the lineup. That’s the fantastic thing about us and why we’re robust to beat.”
The addition of prime free agent Kyle Tucker — who acquired in on the enjoyable together with his first Dodgers hit, an RBI double within the seventh inning — significantly lengthened L.A.’s lineup. That Pages, an actual energy risk, is hitting within the eighth spot within the order is a testomony to how harmful the lineup could be from prime to backside.
That depth was on show within the season opener, with eight of the 9 starters hitting safely. First baseman Freddie Freeman was the one Dodger to go hitless, however he had some hard-hit outs and made an influence together with his glove.
This is a abstract of how the Dodgers scored their runs on Thursday:
The Dodgers’ lineup was top-heavy at instances final season, however they acquired manufacturing from up and down the order on Opening Day: simply as they envisioned once they assembled their workforce this previous offseason.
“It’s type of how we structured this lineup,” Roberts mentioned.
Though Pages’ robust finish to final season may have carried over into this 12 months, the Dodgers weren’t involved about him. Roberts declared Pages his “choose to click on” throughout Spring Coaching, instilling some confidence in his younger middle fielder.
Not that Pages wanted the exterior validation. Simply because the Dodgers are turning the web page on their back-to-back championships and specializing in their three-peat bid, Pages is just not letting the previous weigh him down.
“The postseason’s what the postseason was, and I am probably not centered on that,” Pages mentioned. “I am centered on what I am doing proper now, and my confidence is basically excessive.”
