by Cary Osborne
Blake Snell’s National League Championship Series Game 1 start on Monday was unlike any start in Dodger postseason history. And here are more reasons why it was one of the greatest starts in Major League postseason history.
His line: eight innings pitched, one hit, no walks, no runs, 10 strikeouts, 24 batters faced/24 outs recorded; Game score: 90
No Dodger pitcher had ever allowed one hit over eight or more innings in postseason history.
Snell’s eight innings and one hit allowed mark the 13th time in postseason history a pitcher has done that. It’s the only one with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Snell is the fourth pitcher to allow one hit or fewer over eight innings in a League Championship Series game. The last was Houston’s Brandon Backe in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS — so long ago the Astros were in the National League.
It’s the sixth 10-strikeout/no-walk game in LCS history.
Snell’s 90 game score is the 22nd time a starting pitcher has hit 90 or above in Major League postseason history. The previous high by a Dodger pitcher was Don Drysdale’s 89 in Game 3 of the 1963 World Series. Drysdale pitched a complete game shutout and allowed three hits, one intentional walk and struck out nine. Sandy Koufax turned in two 88s in the 1965 World Series (Games 5 and 7).
(From Baseball Reference: Game score, a metric created by Bill James, measures a starting pitcher’s effectiveness in a single game. It uses a system of pluses and minuses to create a score. That score can easily be compared to standard benchmarks to determine how well the pitcher performed.)
Snell became the first pitcher to face the minimum through eight innings of a postseason game since Yankee Don Larsen in his 1956 perfect game in Game 5 of the World Series.
This was the 25th time in MLB postseason history that a pitcher struck out at least 10 batters and walked none. Four of those games now belong to Dodgers. Two belong to Clayton Kershaw (Game 1 of the 2017 World Series: 11 Ks; and Game 1 of the 2014 NLDS: 10 Ks), and the other belongs to Don Newcombe (Game 1 of the 1949 World Series: 11 Ks).
Snell also picked off a runner. He is the fifth Major League pitcher to strike out at least 10 batters and pick off a runner in a postseason game. The last was Kershaw in Game 2 of the 2020 NL Wild Card Series. That game is also the last time a Dodger starter completed eight innings in a postseason game.
2025 NLCS: A tip of the cap to Blake Snell’s historic Game 1 start was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.