Yes, we’re just clear of the Major League Baseball trade deadline, but the most significant Dodgers transaction in recent days wasn’t a swap with another team. Rather, it was the Saturday activation of lefty ace and two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell.
The 32-year-old Snell, whom the Dodgers inked to a $136.96 million free-agent contract this past offseason, had been sidelined since April 2 with shoulder inflammation. The injury occurred just two starts into his Dodgers career. On-paper rotation depth is very much a recent Dodgers trait, but so are rotation injuries. The latter has been the case for much of 2025, but Snell’s return represents a bit of a high-water mark for the Dodgers, who now have six healthy starters. Yes, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin are still laid up, but most other notables are healthy. That now includes Snell, who gives the National League West leaders another true frontline presence. Here’s what rotation looks like right about now:
- Yoshinnobu Yamamoto, RHP
- Blake Snell, LHP
- Tyler Glasnow, RHP
- Shohei Ohtani, RHP
- Clayton Kershaw, LHP
- Emmet Sheehan, RHP
That’s the best the L.A. rotation has looked in some time, at least in terms of health and availability.
As for Snell, he was dominant across his recently completed minor-league rehab assignment, and that set the scene for his Saturday start against the Rays at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Here’s Snell’s line in the eventual 4-0 Dodgers loss:
Aside from allowing a pair of home runs to Yandy Díaz, who now has 20 on the season, Snell provided some positives in his first start in four months. To wit:
- Snell didn’t walk any batters even after facing big-league hitters for the first time in such a long while (he’s occasionally prone to control problems).
- He showed good velocity with his fastball (95.2 mph average velo versus a 94.8 mph figure in his first two starts of 2025).
- He struck out an impressive 40% of the batters he faced on Saturday.
- In just those five innings, Snell got 19 swings and misses, including five whiffs on five swings against his slider. He also got seven whiffs on 12 swings against his changeup.
- It’s the first time he’s struck out eight or more batters without a walk since July 14 of last year, when he was with the Giants.
His ERA for the season rose from 2.00 to 3.21, but he showed drastically better command and control than he did in those first two starts. Coming into Saturday’s return, Snell on the season had eight unintentional walks against four strikeouts in nine innings. Those three runs allowed notwithstanding, this was much more like vintage Snell. Here are the relevant moving pictures:
The loss trimmed the Dodgers’ lead in the division to 2 ½ games over the Padres, who had a headline-grabbing trade deadline that raised their profile moving forward.
According to the folks at BetMGM, the Dodgers (+250) are still favored to win the World Series, followed by the Phillies (+800), Yankees (+850) and Tigers (+875). The Padres are at +2000.
Snell’s return — and return to dominance — is key for the Dodgers as they attempt to win the division for the 12th time in the last 13 years and repeat as World Series champions when October comes rolling around.