TORONTO — Blake Snell already has hardware to show. He’s won Cy Young Awards in both leagues. That hardware speaks for itself. But this version of Snell — who is looking to cap an incredible postseason run with his first World Series ring — is seasoned. The Dodgers ace understands. Knows what he wants to do with each pitch and can land it effectively.
This Snell? Ahead of his Game 1 World Series start against the Blue Jays, this Snell is defined by refined dominance.
“He’s peaking,” L.A. pitching coach Mark Prior said Thursday at the Rogers Centre. “He’s throwing the ball. He can throw four pitches anytime. I think that forces hitters to have to choose sides of the plate, choose velocity, choose shapes.”
Snell’s postseason numbers have been otherworldly. The world knows that. An 0.86 ERA in three starts, 21 innings and 28 strikeouts. But it’s his ability to dictate terms, to maneuver how he sees fit against that particular hitter on that particular day, to shape any pitch and surprise batters, that’s the true separator.
“In each start you just learn,” said Snell. “You go through the game, you dissect what you like, what you don’t like, where you got lucky, or maybe where you didn’t get lucky. You’re just trying to find a way to get better and trying to understand what the hitter is trying to do.”
Snell has always leaned on his four-seam fastball, generating swing-and-miss both with the heater and his array of breaking pitches.
But the strike-throwing always led to high pitch counts, robbing Snell of what he could be. Now he’s unlocked a level that didn’t even seem fathomable when you consider what he had already accomplished. Teammates have seen it. Hitters have felt it. Coaches have watched the evolution from a pitcher who once just relied on sheer stuff to a 32-year-old who now pairs that stuff with shrewdness.
“I think he’s using a bit more offspeed,” Dodger starter Tyler Glasnow said. “But for the most part, I think he’s attacking guys the same way but is a bit less predictable with the offspeed.”
Take Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers. Snell turned one of the best fastball-hitting lineups in baseball into a group left scratching its heads. Snell, holding on to a 1-0 lead, made a living pitching backward, and dropped in a 0-0 curveball to Sal Frelick for a called first strike.
Snell then went to his fastball off the curveball, inducing a foul ball to the right side.
Three straight balls — curveball, changeup, slider — got Frelick back in the count. Now consider the moment: 3-and-2 count, on the road, up one run in Game 1 of the NLCS. A walk brings the go-ahead run to the plate. Snell had shown just one fastball; everything else was offspeed or breaking. Surely he wouldn’t go back to it, right?
Yet on that full count, he went right back to the curveball, freezing Frelick for a called strike three.
“I faced him a lot in my career,” said catcher Will Smith. “Now he’s with us. He’s tough at-bat. It’s really good stuff. Throws hard, nasty curveball, changeup, slider. Just executes pitches and he makes pitches when he needs a big pitch.”
When Snell takes the mound Friday, it won’t be the Brewers. It won’t even be the Phillies. This Toronto offense, top to bottom, is arguably the best lineup in baseball. The Jays posted the lowest strikeout rate in the majors this season at 17.8% and led MLB with a .265 batting average. Their .428 slugging percentage ranked seventh in baseball, showing they’re not just a team that puts the ball in play — they drive the ball for extra bases and leave the yard when it matters. The lineup is anchored by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is on a postseason tear, and George Springer, who has made a career out of this stage and sent his team to the World Series with a go-ahead three-run homer against the Mariners.
This is a different beast.
“[These] are the two best teams left standing,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “Built differently, have different strengths. There’s a reason we are here and there’s a reason they’re there. I think the one thing we cannot do is look over there and say that is Goliath. That is a beatable baseball team that has its flaws, and that has its really, really good strengths.”
Snell is one of the Goliaths on this Dodgers roster. He can control a contest, control the pace, control hitters.
He’s different.
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