LOS ANGELES -- For much of the past week, left-hander Blake Snell had been gearing up to take the mound at ONT Field for the Dodgers' Single-A affiliate. After a change of plans, his next start will instead take place about 40 miles west of Ontario: at Dodger Stadium.
Rather than make one final rehab start, Snell will make his season debut for the Dodgers on Saturday night against the Braves, manager Dave Roberts said. The decision to end Snell's rehab assignment early was made due to uncertainty surrounding the status of right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who was ultimately placed on the 15-day injured list with back spasms ahead of Friday's series opener.
"We're just kind of in a holding pattern [with Glasnow]," Roberts said before the IL move was official. "And then you kind of layer in the Blake Snell situation and try to figure out if he's open to taking the five innings here vs. on rehab. And he couldn't be more excited to do that."
As it happens, Snell's early return coincides with his bobblehead night. His bobblehead is the first in the Dodgers' "Starter Series" honoring the dominant four-man rotation they used last postseason: Snell, Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
Snell made three Minor League rehab starts, most recently completing four innings on 55 pitches with Triple-A Oklahoma City. In an ideal world, he would have stretched out to around five innings and 75 pitches before making his return. But if he can give the Dodgers five innings on Saturday, they feel that he will have more than done his job, especially because the bullpen is reset after Thursday's team off-day.
Bringing Snell back sooner than planned bought the Dodgers some time as they monitored whether Glasnow would be able to make his next start, and because Glasnow ended up going on the IL, they were able to kick the can on the roster decision that had been looming alongside Snell's return.
For the time being, the three back-end starters on the bubble -- Emmet Sheehan, Roki Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski -- will all remain in the rotation. Sasaki, who was originally the probable starter for Saturday, will be pushed back to next week's series against the Giants, likely on Monday.
Snell began this season on the IL with left shoulder fatigue. Last season -- the first of his five-year, $182 million contract with L.A. -- Snell missed most of the first four months of the campaign with inflammation in that same shoulder, and while he returned in August and pitched through the World Series, it 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).
This past offseason, Snell slow-played his throwing program, and it became clear early in Spring Training that the Dodgers would not have him in their rotation to begin the season. The back-to-back defending champions saw no reason to rush Snell back to pitch in April when their goal is to have him at his best during their three-peat bid in October.