Blake Snell takes the ball Wednesday night with the Dodgers needing a clean turn from their left-hander at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles returns home down two games to none in the National League Championship Series against Milwaukee, and Snell is scheduled to start Game 3 at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. PT on FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX One.
The result
The Dodgers have reached an unfamiliar October spot. Their two losses in Milwaukee put the back-to-back World Series champions in an 0-2 series deficit for the first time since the 2023 National League Division Series, when Arizona completed a three-game sweep.
There is history to overcome, but not a closed door. Clubs trailing 0-2 in best-of-seven postseason series have recovered 16 times in 95 attempts, a 17 percent rate. For teams that lost the first two games on the road under the 2-3-2 format, the record is 11 comebacks in 57 series, or 19 percent.
Two of those recoveries came recently. Arizona rallied past Philadelphia in the 2023 NLCS, and Toronto overturned a 2-0 hole against Seattle in the 2025 ALCS.
Snell does not see the count as changing his assignment. Whether the Dodgers were ahead or behind, he said, his job would remain the same: execute his game, win the start and pitch with authority.
A year ago, he supplied precisely that kind of outing in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers, working eight innings and allowing one hit in a Dodgers victory. Los Angeles signed him in November 2024 after his second Cy Young Award season, envisioning another frontline arm for a rotation built to carry a championship run.
His first Dodgers season did not move in a straight line. Snell made the club’s stateside Opening Day start in 2025 but was limited to 10 additional regular-season appearances by injuries. Once healthy for October, he opened the National League Wild Card Series, NLCS and World Series for a staff that also included Shohei Ohtani in his return as a pitcher, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Snell won his first three postseason starts with Los Angeles, including Game 2 of the Division Series. He struggled in two World Series outings, then answered in the decisive Game 7 with 1 1/3 scoreless relief innings as the Dodgers closed out the title.
This season has brought another interrupted schedule. Shoulder trouble and elbow surgery held Snell to nine starts. His only postseason appearance came in Game 2 of the NLDS against Atlanta, a 3-2 Dodgers loss in which he lasted 3 2/3 innings and issued five walks.
Manager Dave Roberts said Snell was unlike himself against the Braves, trying to be too precise, falling behind hitters and working inefficiently. Roberts expects a different pitcher with a second October opportunity in front of the home crowd.
The first two games have put extra weight on that expectation. Yamamoto, a likely National League Cy Young finalist, and midseason addition Tarik Skubal, a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, combined for only 7 2/3 innings in Milwaukee.
Teoscar Hernández said the club still believes in the arms lined up behind Snell. He pointed to Snell, Glasnow and Skubal as starters who would lead nearly any other staff, while stressing that the Dodgers need to take the series one game at a time.
The rotation next
Snell is first up for Game 3, followed by Glasnow and then Skubal if the series reaches those turns. The Dodgers entered October with four ace-level options rather than asking Snell to carry the staff alone, but the moment now calls for the version who once anchored their postseason rotation.
Snell said momentum can change quickly, particularly once a series shifts home. He recalled the Dodgers’ experience against Toronto and said there is no panic in the clubhouse. The immediate task is simpler: get a win Wednesday, let the crowd into the series and see where the next inning takes them.
