Dodgers Interview: Game 1 Heroes Snell and Freeman Break Down Dodgers’ Win

MILWAUKEE — Game 1 felt like October should feel: loud, taut, and decided by inches. The Dodgers beat the Brewers 2–1 on Monday night because Blake Snell stacked zero after zero and Freddie Freeman solved a scoreless game with one perfectly struck swing in the sixth. It was tense. It was clean. It set a tone.

Snell said the focus has been steady all month. “I feel like the whole postseason I’ve been pretty locked in, pretty consistent,” he said after eight scoreless innings. “They were really aggressive to a certain pitch, so I threw differently. The next time I face them, if they’re more aggressive to other things, then I’ll throw the fastball more. It’s just what they’re giving me.”

The changeup was the star, and Snell explained how that decision happens in real time. “Coming into the game I want all four pitches to feel good,” he said. “When I get out there, their approach will tell me what I’m going to do. It might be more changeups to this hitter, more slider or curve to the next, but the goal is to feel confident I can strike with all four.” Asked about going deeper than he used to early in his career, he added, “I felt I could have gone the ninth, but I trust Dave. He knows what’s best for the team. I’ve always been a pitcher who could locate. The narrative has been I’m wild and walk guys, but I laugh at it because it’s not true. I’m the one throwing the ball.”

Freeman put Snell’s night in simple terms. “I can’t think of one off the top of my head that was this good from the start,” he said. “What he can do with the changeup against right-handed hitters, he can throttle it from 82 to 88. It’s not just one pitch. It’s like three different pitches when you throw it at three different speeds, and then when you think you’re going to sit on something, here comes 96–97. It was a masterpiece.”

Part of why Snell chose Los Angeles showed up in the way he talked about October. “That was clear as day in free agency,” he said. “I remember saying Freddie, Mookie, Sho in that lineup. I couldn’t wait to pitch. Seeing what they’re able to do and wanting to be a part of it, and knowing how important the postseason is to them, that’s what I wanted. To be here now is a dream come true. I’m going to do the best I can to help us win a World Series.” On legacy, he was straightforward. “Players make their mark in the postseason. Every situation is a pressure situation. If you dominate, no one can say anything. You prove yourself right. If you fail, you learn and grow.”

Freeman knows Snell from the other side and was happy to change dugouts. “When you face a power pitcher who can locate three plus pitches, you know it’s going to be tough,” he said. “How he pitched tonight is probably not how he pitches next time. It’s hard to scout. You might have success in one game and then it’s thrown out the door and you strike out three times. I’m so happy we’re sitting next to each other now doing press conferences together and not talking about how he beat us again.”

The first win matters, especially on the road. “We knew coming in they play great defense, they pitch, and they get big hits,” Freeman said. “It was going to be a tough series from the beginning, and you saw it tonight. When you get one for Blake, you feel good, but you always want to get more. We had some opportunities and didn’t get it, but that run in the top of the ninth was huge. Getting the first one is huge. To get the first one and turn it over to Yoshi tomorrow, we’re feeling pretty good. Hopefully we can score more runs tomorrow.”

He also pointed to the staff-wide groove that carried into this series. “Our starting pitching is what made us play better going into October,” he said. “There was a stretch where it felt like six or seven no-hit innings every night. As an offense, you do everything you can to support them. You feel confident even when you’re not scoring early because our starter is going to keep us in it, and with our offense, we’ll find a way. These are the games you need to win, the close ones.”

Milwaukee’s manager joked about Freeman being a “Brewer killer.” Freeman just shrugged. “There’s no rhyme or reason,” he said. “Sometimes you feel good about your swing for those three or four days and it doesn’t really matter who you’re facing. I like environments where it’s not 25 degrees and your hands are cold. I always seem to like enclosed stadiums, but I can’t give you a reason. And I don’t think I’m going to oversleep tomorrow.”

One last note from Snell on the pickoff that helped him out of a jam: he kept the tell to himself. “I can’t tell you,” he said with a small smile. “I saw enough that I needed to pick.” That summed up the night. He saw what he needed, threw what the game asked for, and let the scoreline speak.

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