The Los Angeles Dodgers made their biggest splash of the offseason by signing Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract after he opted out of his deal with the San Francisco Giants.
The left-hander now joins a star-studded rotation that includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki, among others. Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw are also expected to contribute at some point during the season.
Snell made his final Cactus League start on Sunday and is next expected to take the mound for one of the Dodgers’ exhibition games in Japan. He also figures to pitch in the Freeway Series before the regular season resumes.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects that Snell will start against the Detroit Tigers in the Dodger Stadium opener on March 27, via David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports:
Dave Roberts said he can’t announce who will start the home opener, but basically said today, Blake Snell is lined up for that. #Dodgers
“It lines up with what everybody is expecting.”
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) March 9, 2025
Snell previously said that it was his goal to start for the Dodgers in their domestic regular season opener. He has started on Opening Day twice in his career, including during the 2019 season with the Tampa Bay Rays and 2023 as a member of the San Diego Padres.
Snell previously expressed that it was his goal to start the Dodgers’ domestic regular season opener. He has started on Opening Day twice in his career—once in 2019 with the Tampa Bay Rays and again in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner is coming off a season with the Giants in which he went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA, 2.43 FIP, and 1.05 WHIP across 20 starts. His 24.2% strikeout-to-walk ratio further highlighted his dominance.
After signing late last season and missing a full Spring Training, Snell struggled out of the gate. However, he rebounded in a big way, posting an MLB-best 1.45 ERA after the All-Star break. Determined to find more consistency this year, Snell made it a priority to sign early in the offseason.
Blake Snell is ‘next-level thinker’
Snell is widely regarded as one of the most analytically driven players in baseball, and his desire to improve has stood out to Roberts.
“He is a next-level thinker. I’ve had some really good conversations. I think up to this point, the best conversations I’ve had in spring have been with Blake,” Roberts said.
“He’s very in tune with who he is as a person, as a pitcher. He’s very excited to have a commitment from an organization long-term. He has huge personal goals, he has very short-term goals, team goals. But I think that his feel for baseball, knowing hitters’ tendencies and things like that, is really refreshing to me.
“I think nowadays, the cat-and-mouse, game-within-the-game isn’t really played as much as I’d personally like by players. He is kind of that mold, which is exciting.”
Snell’s cerebral approach, paired with his elite stuff, makes him a key piece of the Dodgers’ championship aspirations in 2025.
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