How difficult season transformed Blake Snell into Dodgers’ October ace

For much of the year, the Dodgers’ starting rotation felt broken.

Largely because the pitcher who became his anchor was having trouble finding himself.

It’s easy to forget now, with Blake Snell in the midst of a historic performance in October that helped the Dodgers return to the World Series. But for most of his first season in Los Angeles, the two-time Cy Young Award winner and $182 million offseason signee struggled with frustration, enduring what he recently described as “the toughest year of my career.”

First, there was a well-documented early adversity: a shoulder issue that Snell quietly resolved during two disappointing starts early in the campaign, before putting him on the injured list for the next four months.

Then there was an ordeal that Snell described for the first time last week: In late August, the same day his wife Haeley gave birth to the couple’s second child, Snell became so ill in the hospital that he passed out, was taken to the emergency room and was kept overnight on a drip.

“It’s horrible,” he thought then.

Which has now made his dominant postseason — including a 0.86 ERA in his first three postseason outings and a scheduled start to Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night — all the more rewarding.

“It’s a lot,” Snell told the Times last week, while reflecting on a difficult season now primed for a triumphant final act. “But that’s what it’s all about. Find the best in yourself. Fight all the doubts, bull….And find out.”

In many ways, figuring things out has been the story of the Dodgers’ entire season. From their inconsistent and injury-riddled attack. To their underperforming and injury-ravaged bullpen. To their constantly evolving rotation, above all.

Earlier this year, this group dealt with its own series of injuries, losing Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and others in a heartbreaking flashback to 2024.

This time, most of their upper arms returned healthy. But until six weeks ago, they still faced real questions for the fall.

At that point, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mired in an up-and-down streak after his first-half All-Star selection, sparking concerns that he was fatigued en route to a career-best 30 starts.

Glasnow had returned from his shoulder problem earlier in the season, but made six starts from July 29 to August 30 with an ERA above 4.00.

And while Shohei Ohtani pitched well, he also continued to develop in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery.

Suddenly, all of this left Snell to be the linchpin of the pitching staff – placing him at the center of the late-season resurgence that was soon to come.

“With every good starting team, you have to have that anchor,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Him coming back on the field like he did kind of raised the bar for everyone.”

Last winter, the Dodgers made Snell their top priority for a reason.

They looked at the disparate rotation that nearly derailed their run to the 2024 World Series and decided the year’s staff needed another star to build on.

Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani already constituted a well-established base. Clayton Kershaw, Emmet Sheehan, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May provided enough depth to withstand a 162-game marathon.

What was missing, however, was another real ace; the kind capable of swinging the playoffs and transforming October fortunes. In Snell, they saw such potential. His presence, they hoped, would complete their title defense plan.

“As we talked about ways we could put ourselves in the best position to win a World Series in 2025,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the day Snell was introduced by the club, “all the conversations kept coming back to Blake.”

Of course, for most of the year, Snell’s impact was limited. After his two injury-hampered starts early in the season, he remained out of action until after the trade deadline.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers slowed down Snell’s recovery – putting him through a meticulous process (similar to their handling of Glasnow and Ohtani) that was designed to prepare him for the latter part of the season and hopefully reach his peak in time for the start of the postseason.

Upon his initial return in early August, Snell appeared to be on the right track, with the southpaw posting a sub-2.00 ERA in his first four outings off the IL.

Then, however, there was another unforeseen setback, after he returned home from an Aug. 22 outing in San Diego for the birth of his child.

As Snell’s wife went into labor later that week, the 32-year-old arrived at the hospital feeling “extremely ill,” he said last week. At one point, as he got up from a couch to go hold his newborn, he said he passed out and passed out in the room.

Snell was taken to the emergency room and stayed there overnight, receiving two IVs to combat an unspecified illness no doubt made worse by exhaustion.

“I couldn’t really stand it,” he said. “I felt really bad.”

And yet, a few days later, Snell was back on top of the mound at Dodger Stadium; ensuring that, after his prolonged absence earlier in the campaign, he would not miss another start.

“This is what I signed up for,” Snell said. “When I pitch, I forget about that. I don’t allow a lot of excuses.”

Snell’s illness was unknown at the time, but its physical consequences quickly became apparent. His velocity was noticeably down during a three-run, 5 ⅓ inning start on August 29 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Six days later, he toiled again in a “frustrating” outing at Pittsburgh, allowing a season-high nine hits and five runs to the lowly Pirates.

However, progressing in those games gave Snell something to focus on for the rest of the season. “If this is what you are today, find out,” he told himself. And ultimately, without any more disruptions to his routine, improvement occurred quickly.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell puts his arm around catcher Ben Rortvedt as they return to the dugout together on September 17.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Snell struck out a season-high 11 batters in six scoreless innings in a September 10 win over the Colorado Rockies. He surpassed that number a week later with 12 punchouts in seven scoreless frames against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Snell said after that outing, which was followed by another six-inning, one-run start in his regular-season finale at Arizona: “[I’m] start being able to play catch with more intention and work on things… Getting to the playoffs and being able to get there, that’s what the whole season is about.

The old baseball adage is that hitting can be contagious.

In the case of this year’s Dodgers, starting pitching obviously can be, too.

As Snell got hot in September, so did the rest of the team’s resurgent rotation. Yamamoto returned to his early season form, earning National League Pitcher of the Month honors with an immaculate 0.67 ERA in four starts. Glasnow finished the month with a 2.49 rating, having finally refined his throwing mechanics. Ohtani, meanwhile, stretched out for six innings, maintaining his two-way dominance in repeated appearances down the stretch.

The bar had been raised, the constant cycle of gemstones continuing to push it a little higher.

The pitchers took advantage of their momentum and savored their shared success; to the point where Roberts joked they almost seemed to be competing to outdo each other.

“I think we’re all OK,” Glasnow said. “So it was only a matter of time before we all did good at the same time.” »

But in these playoffs, no one has been deadlier than Snell. In his 21 innings so far, he has pitched a scoreless frame in all but one.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell leaves the mound after retiring the last batter in the second inning of Game 2 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

He was good in his first start, producing seven two-run innings against the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round. He was superb in the next game, hitting six scoreless goals against the Phillies in a hostile road environment.

His masterpiece, however, came in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series, when he pitched eight scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters and played ruthlessly with a Milwaukee Brewers lineup powerless to adjust to his manipulative changeup.

“We all know it: Blake, when he’s right, is the best pitcher in the game,” Kershaw, his future Hall of Fame teammate, said afterward. “To have a guy that can do that, set the tone, and just have a guy that you can rely on like that, it’s huge.”

For his part, Snell continues to insist that “I feel like I could be a lot better.” After his repeated setbacks earlier this year, he says that “even now, I’m still fighting.”

The numbers, of course, tell a different story. In the live ball era (since 1920), only three other pitchers with 20 or more postseason innings have had at least 20 strikeouts and an ERA below 1.00 (Sandy Koufax in 1965, John Smoltz in 1996, and Justin Verlander in 2013).

Friday night, Snell will be on the hump once again, trying to continue a dazzling streak for himself and his rotation.

What once seemed like the most difficult year of his career is now four wins away from being the most fulfilling.

“This is what you have to go through to win a World Series,” he said. “You can find an excuse, or you can find a way to find out.”