Dodgers News: Blake Snell Will Start Game One of the NLCS, Yamamoto Will Start Game Two

MILWAUKEE, WI—The 2025 National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers kicks off tomorrow night, and it’ll be left-hander Blake Snell taking the ball in Game One for Los Angeles.

For the second time this October, Blake Snell will take the mound and kick off a series for the Dodgers, having already done so during the Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds, while also starting Game Two of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

It’ll be Snell’s third postseason start for the Dodgers, and they’ll need him to be the tone setter for this massive best-of-seven series with a trip to the Fall Classic on the line.

While many around the media are happy to call the Brewers an underdog in the series, which to some extent is true according to betting odds and bookmakers in Vegas, which have the Dodgers as the favorites for this series, that is something Blake Snell is not taking into account as he prepares for his Game One start.

“It’s a really good lineup,” Snell said to the media on Sunday. I’m not falling for the ‘Average Joe’s.’ They’re not. They got the best record in the NL. They’re a really good team.”

While the Dodgers went winless against the Brew Crew this season, Snell was not around the team as he was in the middle of his lengthy IL stint due to a lingering shoulder injury that had followed him since April.

Still, Snell has been worth every penny so far for Los Angeles, who handed him a 5-year, $182 million deal over the winter for starts like these in the postseason.

Through his first two starts, Snell has been unhittable, tossing seven innings of two-run ball in Game One of the Wild Card Series and following that up with six scoreless innings in Philadelphia while only allowing a single hit.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto Will Start Game Two

While Snell was announced as the Dodgers’ Game One Starter, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also announced that the team would go with Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Game Two over two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Roberts was unsure as to when Ohtani would pitch this series, but made it appear that the team wanted to have Snell and Yamamoto available to pitch two potential games in this best-of-seven series.

Another factor is that it makes sense to start Yamamoto in Game Two on the road because the second-year righty had the lowest road ERA among starters this season at 2.13, a significant advantage for the Dodgers in the series.

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