by Cary Osborne
Blake Snell hides the baseball in his glove before every pitch like it’s a closely guarded secret.
He covers his mouth when he talks to coaches during games.
And in postgame interviews, he can be as evasive as one of his curveballs or as difficult to decode as one of his changeups.
Like after he faced the Padres on Aug. 16. Snell knew he would be facing this team again six days later. Having played with them for three seasons, he was intently guarded.
“I’m not going to say,” Snell said at one point.
“I won’t say too much,” he said at another.
“I’m aware they’re going to listen to the interview.”
Snell is hellbent on getting an edge and never letting go of it. It goes beyond baseball.
“I’ve heard from third-party people that even when he plays video games, he’s like, ‘We’ve got to win!’” says Dodger rotation mate Tyler Glasnow. “He’s always about winning. He’ll get mad on the video games, too, like, ‘You guys aren’t playing together. We need to step it up.’ A lot of people who are good at competing have it on all the time, and he’s one of those guys.”
Snell thrives on doubt. He lives for competition. And as he has shown as a Dodger, he hungers for big-game opportunities. It was his stated purpose for signing a five-year contract with the Dodgers in the offseason.
That was abundantly clear when Dodger President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman met with then-free-agent Snell. Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, pitched in the 2020 World Series for the Tampa Bay Rays against the Dodgers. He started 10 postseason games before this season. But he had not won a World Series. He was dead set on changing that with his decision to sign with the Dodgers.
“Everyone wants to pitch in October. I think for some it is literally a part of their identity and what they yearn for more than anything. And I think Blake is one of those guys,” Friedman said. “So in talking to him early in the offseason, or even over the years, that part was clear. And I think just he loves those moments. And just betting on the pitcher, the head, how much he cares was something that he was the number one target for us this offseason.
Snell’s own memory is similar.
“It was clear as day,” he said. “I remember saying, ‘Freddie, Mookie, Shohei in that lineup — I can’t wait to pitch. That’s really the start of it. But just seeing what they’re able to do and wanting to be a part of it and knowing how important postseason is to them, and that’s just something I wanted to be a part of.
“Even playing against them, watching, it was just always in the back of my mind, like, I wanted to be a Dodger and play on that team. To be here now it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t wish for anything more. I’m just going to do the best I can to help us win a World Series.”
About the doubt — it’s also clear that whatever was said about Blake Snell in the past and what kind of pitcher he was sticks in his craw.
“I’ve always been a pitcher that could locate,” he said. “I’ve just been labeled a wild pitcher. But I’ve never felt that’s ever been true. But like my last three years have been pretty consistent. And I could throw the ball, do what I want with the ball.
“But the narrative’s always been, ‘He’s a wild pitcher. He walks a lot of guys.’ I laugh at it because I know it’s not true. I know that because I’m the one throwing the ball.”
Two things can be true. One can be truer. Snell has walked at least four batters in a postseason game four times. In two of those games, he also threw a wild pitch. He walked a combined 10 batters in the other nine starts. His walk rate in those games is 1.8 walks per nine innings. For comparison, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal led the Majors this season with a 1.5 BB/9 rate.
Snell, if anything in his career, could be labeled as artful — a mix of intelligence, skill and troubleshooting. His ability to gameplan, read swings, locate with multiple pitches and dupe hitters is what has made him one of the most uncomfortable at-bats in the Major Leagues.
“When you face a power pitcher that can locate three-plus pitches, you know it’s going to be tough,” said teammate Freddie Freeman. “That’s the thing — how he pitched tonight is probably not going to be how he pitches the next time. It’s hard to scout. It’s hard to feel good against someone (like that). You might have success in one game and it will be completely thrown out the door and you’re going to strike out three times. I’ve done it.”
Snell started two games this season before going on the injured list for four months. The Dodgers had seen from afar what Blake Snell was all about. Maybe it was Sept. 17 when they saw what he was all about up close.
The left-hander was at 107 pitches against the Phillies after consecutive walks with two outs in the seventh inning. The Dodgers were holding onto a 3–0 lead. Manager Dave Roberts made his way out to the mound, which normally signals a reliever is coming in. In fact, Alex Vesia exited the bullpen on his way into the game.
Snell mouthed three words to Roberts: “I got this.”
And he’s had it ever since.
2025 World Series: This is the moment Blake Snell wanted was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.