Blake Snell had a successful first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers after signing a five-year, $182 million contract in free agency last winter.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner spent the first five seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, but the last five have come on the West Coast with the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and now Dodgers.
Apart from winning the 2025 World Series, Snell enjoyed the experience of playing in L.A. during his first season with the Dodgers. That includes the increased attention that comes with it.
During an episode of the “On Base With Mookie Betts” podcast, Snell said the extra scrutiny is something he embraces, along with the increased praise:
“I like it more in L.A., because when you do bad, people talk more. When you do good, they talk more. It’s both sides of it. That’s what I wanted. I like it. I like when people talk [expletive] too. I like that.”
Considering his background from the time he spent with the Rays, the difference in media attention focused on baseball is night and day.
There is also more people attending games in L.A. compared to Tampa Bay, or even San Diego and San Francisco for that matter. The Dodgers consistently lead MLB in attendance, while the Rays regularly are near the bottom.
Blake Snell forming new friendships
Another perk of playing with the Dodgers that Snell has enjoyed is getting to know fellow local sports stars like Los Angeles Football Club’s Son Heung-Min.
Snell was plenty familiar with the South Korean soccer star prior to meeting him during a regular season series against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers pitcher knew of Son in part through the FIFA video games.
After catching the ceremonial first pitch from Son, Snell had the chance to talk to him and a friendship quickly formed.
“We just became really good friends after that,” Snell said. “We were talking, and I went to his game and he came back out to the playoff game and we’ve just been building a friendship.
“We’re friends and talking, and we’ll see where the relationship goes, but we support each other and it’s been a really fun friendship.”
Snell later returned the favor by making the trip to BMO Stadium alongside Hyeseong Kim for an LAFC match against Real Salt Lake in September.
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