Snell joins elite company as Dodgers edge past Brewers to open NLCS
MILWAUKEE – Few teams have the pedigree of great performances like the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. With this postseason, Blake Snell is making that star-studded streak longer by one.
Snell dominated the Milwaukee Brewers over eight innings on Monday, holding Los Angeles to a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series in front of a packed house at American Family Field.
“That was good from the start,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning homer broke a scoreless tie. “Sometimes it takes a round or two for someone to settle down. [Tonight] “It’s been there since the beginning.”
Snell hit one out against Milwaukee in eight complete innings for only the second time in a career that earned him a pair of Cy Young Awards. He struck out 10 and singled to the only baserunner he allowed — Caleb Durbin, who singled to third.
Snell became the first pitcher to face the minimum through eight innings in a postseason game since Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. The only longer outing of Snell’s career was the no-hitter he threw for the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 2, 2024. Has he ever felt as caged as he did on Monday?
“No hitter, yeah,” Snell quipped.
Snell improved to 3-0 in a postseason during which no other player recorded two wins. He is the second Dodgers player to win his first three playoff games for the franchise, joining Don Sutton (1974).
If Los Angeles keeps winning, Snell will get more opportunities to add to his numbers, but right now, his 0.86 ERA over three innings is second-best for a Dodgers left-hander in the postseason (minimum 20 innings), behind only the legendary Sandy Koufax (0.38 ERA over three starts) in the 1965 World Series.
That’s the kind of company Snell knew he’d keep when he signed with the Dodgers before the season.
“Even playing against them and watching, it was always in the back of my mind, like I wanted to be a Dodger and play on this team,” Snell said. “To be here now, it’s a dream come true. I couldn’t wish for anything more.”
Snell’s gem continued the Dodgers’ stretch of dominant start that began over the final month of the regular season and propelled a postseason run for the defending champions, earning them a repeat despite an offense that at times struggled to stick in the playoffs.
The Dodgers starter is 6-1 with a 1.65 ERA so far in the postseason, recording six quality starts in Los Angeles’ seven games.
“Our start in the last seven or eight weeks has been — I don’t know if you can write enough words in your stories about our start in syndication,” Freeman said. “It was really amazing. They seemed to feed off each other.”
But no Dodgers starter is on a run like Snell, who is hoping to win his first championship ring with the team he lost to as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series.
Despite Snell’s dominance, the Dodgers still had to withstand a ninth-inning push by the stubborn Brewers and understand that the Series had only just begun. However, with the way Snell rolls, he brings up the names of Dodgers present and past, such as Koufax, Kershaw, Sutton, Valenzuela, and Hershiser.
“I feel like I’ve been pretty locked in all postseason, pretty consistent,” Snell said. “I’ve gone deep in different outings, but eight outings. The last three I’ve felt really good, really solid. Consistent. Similar.”