Dodgers need Snell to step up on big stage, just as he's done in the past

LOS ANGELES -- On this date a year ago, Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell tossed eight innings of one-hit ball in a Game 1 win over the Brewers in the National League Championship Series.

When the Dodgers signed Snell in November 2024, they envisioned him being that dude to anchor a World Series-winning rotation. And he did. The Dodgers need that version of Snell now more than ever in Wednesday’s NLCS Game 3 against the Brewers at Dodger Stadium.

By dropping the first two games of this year’s NLCS in Milwaukee, the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers are in an 0-2 hole for the first time since the 2023 NL Division Series, which led to their last postseason elimination, a three-game sweep by the Diamondbacks.

“I don't think about last year because it has nothing to do with this year,” Snell said. “It's a completely different team. … This game and what it means to me, it hasn't changed -- 0-2, 2-0, it wouldn't matter. I know what I need to do. I know what I need to do to win and dominate. I'm going to just focus on that.”

In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams down 0-2 have gone on to win the series 16 of 95 times (17%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams behind 0-2 on the road have gone on to win 11 of 57 times (19%). Of the 16 examples of teams rallying from a 2-0 deficit, two have come in the past three seasons: the Blue Jays against the Mariners in the 2025 ALCS and the D-backs against the Phillies in the 2023 NLCS.

The odds are stacked against the Dodgers for a three-peat, but they can climb back into this NLCS with vintage Snell.

"Still good,” Teoscar Hernández said of the team’s chances. “We’ve got Snell, we’ve got [Tyler] Glasnow, and then we’ve got Tarik [Skubal] again. We’ve just got to play one game at a time and just try to win Wednesday.

“If you put them on any other team, they're going to be [a] No. 1 [starter]. We’ve got a lot of trust in those guys and our team, and I think we're going to be OK."

At the time of his signing, Snell was coming off his second Cy Young Award-winning campaign, and he fulfilled the Dodgers’ desire to add another ace to their starting rotation in their quest for a second straight World Series title.

It paid off in the long run.

Snell started the Dodgers’ stateside opener in 2025, but made only 10 more regular-season starts due to injuries. Healthy in time for the postseason, he led the way by starting Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series, NLCS and World Series for a rotation that featured NL MVP Shohei Ohtani in his return to the mound, Glasnow and eventual World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Although Snell won his first three postseason starts for the Dodgers, including Game 2 of the NL Division Series, he faltered twice in the World Series before bouncing back with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of late relief in the Game 7 clincher.

In 2026, Snell started just nine games due to shoulder trouble and elbow surgery, and in his lone postseason appearance this October, he walked five batters and went just 3 2/3 innings in a 3-2 loss to the Braves in NLDS Game 2.

“I think that the way he attacked the Braves was not who he is right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought he was too fine. I thought he got behind way too many guys, was not efficient, and I think he was very upset with himself with how he approached that start.

“So, to now get another opportunity in front of his home crowd, I think we're just going to see a different version.”

This postseason, Snell hasn’t had to be the dude, just one of the dudes. He’s no longer the shiny new toy starting the first game of the postseason series. Midseason acquisition and two-time American League Cy Young winner Skubal and likely NL Cy Young finalist Yamamoto front a rotation of four aces.

But that pair combined for just 7 2/3 frames in the two losses in Milwaukee. Now would be the perfect time for Snell to remind the baseball world, and the Dodgers alike, why he was signed as one of the game’s elite arms. It was for moments like this.

“A big thing is momentum,” Snell said. “Once you shift it, especially at home, anything can happen. We saw what happened when we played Toronto. I'm not worried. We've just got to get it going. I think, once we do that, we'll be fine.”