Andy Pages Fractures Hand, Dodgers Lose Their Second-Best Hitter for a Month

Andy Pages taking a 100 mph fastball to the hand is bad. Staying in the game for another inning with a fractured hand is the kind of psychotic baseball behavior that makes you question human anatomy.

The Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder is officially out for four to five weeks after Pittsburgh Pirates righty Bubba Chandler caught him on the back of the left hand with a 100.2 mph heater on Friday night. Manager Dave Roberts confirmed the break, noting that surgery is on the table but shouldn't push the recovery timeline back any further.

"Manager Dave Roberts confirmed the four-to-five-week timeline, noting that potential surgery would not delay his expected return."

For anyone holding Dodgers futures tickets, this is a massive blow to a lineup that was humming. Pages was putting together a monster All-Star campaign, hitting .272 with 25 home runs and 80 RBIs.

He has racked up 5.6 WAR so far this year. For context, the only guy on the Los Angeles roster having a more valuable season is Shohei Ohtani, who is currently playing a different sport than the rest of the league with his 6.8 WAR.

Kiké Hernández took over in center field after Pages finally admitted he had human bones, but Tommy Edman is expected to soak up a lot of those vacant innings. Edman literally hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning of the exact same game, so the transition plan is already in motion.

If the four-to-five-week timeline holds, Pages will be back just in time for the MLB playoffs. Until then, the Dodgers have to survive the stretch run without their second-best player, hoping his hand heals faster than the average person's paper cut.