Back ahead of schedule, Snell's 2026 debut a mixed bag

LOS ANGELES -- While the Dodgers had been looking forward to welcoming two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell back to their rotation, the left-hander showed some rust when he returned to the Dodger Stadium mound.

Snell's highly anticipated season debut came earlier than expected -- and on his bobblehead night, no less -- as he opted to forego making a final rehab start in favor of rejoining a Dodgers rotation that had just lost Tyler Glasnow to the injured list. Facing a Braves team that came into the weekend series with the best record in baseball proved to be a tough first test for Snell.

His final line was not pretty, as Snell gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out five in an eventual 7-2 loss on Saturday night. The Dodgers had been hoping to get him in the neighborhood of five innings and 75 pitches, but the Braves' lineup grinded him out and forced him to throw 77 pitches across three innings.

Snell began this year on the injured list with left shoulder fatigue after missing four months of his first season as a Dodger due to inflammation in the same shoulder, and even once he returned to anchor the rotation for the stretch run and the postseason, he never felt quite right. He still went 5-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 regular-season starts, then posted a 3.18 ERA across six postseason appearances (five starts).

When he was on the mound last year, Snell lived up to the lofty expectations that accompanied his five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers. Because he was able to get the results he did while pitching through discomfort the entire time, the team believes he can be even better this year.

"Obviously, we faced him for many years before. Watching his work, it's a special arm talent. It is just different," manager Dave Roberts said. "And so now that we've got him healthy, we got to build him up. But being healthy, it is going to be exciting to see what we're going to get with a healthy Blake Snell."

In the first inning on Saturday, Snell was on the receiving end of some bad batted-ball luck. Mauricio Dubón led off the game with a single that deflected off Hyeseong Kim's glove. Drake Baldwin followed by drawing a walk, and Ozzie Albies reached on a soft grounder that traveled a mere two feet. Neither hit had an expected batting average greater than .300.

Snell was able to limit the damage to one run on an Austin Riley fielder's choice, but he didn't fare as well in another bases-loaded situation in the second inning. He was a strike away from escaping the jam, but Albies went down and got an 0-2 changeup well below the zone to drive home a pair of runs with a single. A passed ball by catcher Will Smith moved both runners on base into scoring position for Matt Olson, who knocked in another two runs on a single that came off the bat at 103.4 mph, the hardest-hit ball in play off Snell all evening.

A cleaner third inning ended Snell's season debut. He was poised for his first 1-2-3 frame until Eli White reached on a throwing error from Kim, but Snell took care of business by freezing nine-hole hitter Jorge Mateo on a curveball for a called third strike.

Beyond the boxscore, there were quite a few things to like about Snell's first start of 2026:

• Of the 11 batted-ball events against him, there were only two hard-hit balls in play (exit velocity of 95 mph or higher). The Braves' average exit velocity vs. Snell was 80.5 mph.
• Even while allowing a lot of balls in play, Snell missed bats. He generated 16 whiffs, joining the Phillies' Jesús Luzardo as the second pitcher this season to generate that much swing-and-miss in an outing of three innings or fewer.
• One outing is a small sample, but Snell averaged 95.9 mph with his fastball, up from 95.1 mph last year and more in line with how hard he was throwing when he was fully healthy in previous years.