Dodgers Interview: Snell wants to keep the “perfect” vibe from 2025 rolling
LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell didn’t take long to sum up his first season in Dodger blue. When you win it all, it’s easy to start there, and Snell did. But once he got past the simple answer, he talked like a pitcher who remembers every bump in the road, especially the part where his shoulder never quite felt like his shoulder. Now, heading into 2026, he’s happy with where he’s at, and he’s also planning to be more patient.
“It was perfect,” Snell said of 2025. Then he added, “Me personally, I went through a bunch of ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change it. For us to win, come together, find a way to win, I think it only gave us a stronger team, a more connected team. It just gives me more excited for what we can do.”
The big theme of his winter has been health and pacing, because he felt what rushing cost him last spring. “I feel good,” Snell said. “I’m just going to go slower. Last year, I had so much improvement, I was way too excited. I was really pushing to get to spring, get through spring. This year I’m going to be a little slower, ramp up a little more smarter.”
Indeed, the injury-prone Snell was on the shelf for much of his first year as a Dodger. He was limiting to just 11 starts, throwing 61 innings in the regular season (2.35 ERA). But, in the postseason, Snell was a beast: he twirled scoreless outings in both the Division Series and the LCS. He ran into a bit of a wall in the World Series, but threw well enough to be the bridge to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the deciding Game 7.
When he was asked what he was dealing with physically in the World Series, he pointed right back to the same issue. “Just my shoulder, the same thing,” Snell said. “It just never felt what I was.”
He said the early throwing has been encouraging, but he’s not trying to jump ahead of the calendar. Nor is he making any promises for Opening Day. “I’ve been playing catch. It feels good,” Snell said. “I’m just going to take my time. Last year I was rushing. I wanted to pitch so bad. I’m going to take my time to be ready.”
He kept it straightforward: the shoulder will tell him what it needs once the work gets more intense. “I’ll know more once I start throwing bullpens and pitching games,” Snell said. “Obviously opening day.”
As for what the recovery looked like, he said it was rest, plus a lot of work. “It was rest, but a lot of physical therapy,” Snell said. “I did a lot of different things to make sure I want to be comfortable.”
And he said he can feel the difference now, especially in strength. “It’s stronger,” Snell said. “I know the day that I went into PT to the day I left, it’s night and day, in strength, how it feels. Throwing, it feels good.”
The last question tried to push toward the surgery angle, but Snell didn’t go there. He ended the session with a quick wrap and a smile. And we will see him again. Sometime.
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