The Los Angeles Dodgers formally introduced Blake Snell during a press conference at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday after signing him to a five-year, $182 million contract.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner was highly sought-after as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles all reportedly pursued him before he joined the Dodgers.
While all of those teams were seemingly good options, Snell feels there is no better place to play than L.A. “Being in L.A., the pressure is always on. I like that,” he said during his introductory press conference.
“Living here is pretty amazing with the opportunities. Being able to pitch in a packed stadium, get to make moments for people, this is where you want to play. I don’t think there’s a better situation you could be in than right here.
“And knowing Andrew as well as I know him, that played a big part. It all started because he believed in me, so I couldn’t see a better reason not to come here.
“The goal is to end it here, so we’ll see how long I can push my career for and see how many World Series we can win.”
The Dodgers, coming off their second World Series championship in the past five seasons, have arguably the best roster in baseball and are set up for long-term success. They have multiple key contributors locked up for the foreseeable future, including Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Tommy Edman, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
It’s easy to say no team in baseball is better suited to contend for World Series titles moving forward, and adding Snell to that mix of players makes them that much better.
The Dodgers’ signing of Snell also reunited him with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who drafted the left-hander when leading the Tampa Bay Rays front office.
Snell spent five years with the Rays and coincidentally pitched against the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series. He also played for the San Diego Padres (2021-2023) and San Francisco Giants (2024) before finding his way to his third National League West team.
Snell finished 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA, 2.43 FIP and 1.05 WHIP across 20 starts for the Giants this year while posting a 24.2% strikeout to walk ratio.
He posted an MLB-best 1.45 ERA among qualified starting pitchers in 12 games after the All-Star break.
Blake Snell ‘can’t wait to win’ World Series with Dodgers
In a video shared by the team last week, Snell said he is looking forward to helping the Dodgers win more World Series titles.
Snell has enjoyed pitching at Dodger Stadium in his career, going 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 11.3 strikeouts per nine over seven starts.
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