Blake Snell had a very Blake Snell-like season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He put up a 2.35 ERA, but was only able to make 11 starts due to injury.
However, the Dodgers didn’t sign Blake Snell because he has a long track record of staying healthy for 162 games. They did so because they wanted his dominant arsenal available to pitch Game 1 of a playoff series. And on Tuesday, that’s exactly what they’ll get.
Snell was announced officially as the Dodgers’ starter for Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds, which begins on Tuesday night. In a playoff rotation that also includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, that’s a pretty high honor.
And it’s an honor that Snell did not take lightly when he turned his intensity up several notches in his pre-series comments on Monday.
“The whole reason I came here was to pitch in October,” Snell said, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com. “To challenge myself personally. To face the best when the stakes are the highest, that’s what I’ve always wanted. I couldn’t be more excited to be in this position.”
Snell last faced the Reds a season ago. A member of the San Francisco Giants at the time, Snell threw his first career no-hitter, setting in motion a streak of dominance that made him the best pitcher in baseball after the All-Star break and helped him secure his five-year, $182 million Dodgers deal.
However, Snell isn’t taking anything in particular away from that last face-off with Cincy.
“That was so long ago,” Snell said, per Chen. “They’ve changed. I’ve changed. A lot has changed. And this is a postseason game, so the stakes are higher. So it’s going to be a more exciting game. It’s going to be a chess match. They’ve got good hitters. Guys that are hot. It’s going to be a good matchup.”
At 6 p.m. PT at Chavez Ravine, Dodgers fans hope they get to see their newest free-agent ace prove why he was the right chess piece to move first.
More MLB: Phillies Manager Makes Honest Kyle Schwarber Admission Ahead of Free Agency
