Dodgers’ Blake Snell Admits He Was Nervous Amid Constant Pain in Shoulder
The Los Angeles Dodgers had a dominant World Series run in 2024 despite the fact that they only had three starting pitchers healthy enough for the postseason.
To address this roster weakness, the offseason was spent retooling the ailing pitching roster. One of those key addition, two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell, has only made two starts for the Dodgers this season as he first landed on the injured list in early April.
The southpaw spoke on what this tumultuous experience has been like, and not exactly knowing his injury status at points during his time off.
“For a while, I had no idea. It just hurt every time I threw a baseball,” he said. “I was kinda nervous, because I’ve never felt that. So I didn’t really know what was going on. And then like two weeks ago, I started to actually play catch with no pain. And I was like, wow. I started getting happy and excited.
“I think we can start moving. I don’t feel anything. All before that, every time I touched the baseball, the second I threw it, I could feel it. If it wasn’t the front, it was the back. If it wasn’t the back or the front, it was the side. It was just weird. I never felt that, even in my offseason. So I was just real confused. But now, very confident, feel great.”
The confidence is definitely promising as Snell gets closer to a return. The pitching roster is in need of any reinforcements, but a Cy Young-caliber pitcher that has historically improved as the season goes on seems ideal for the current Dodgers roster.
Pitching coach Mark Prior also remarked on the journey Snell has been on and how relieved he is to see him pain-free.
“Seeing Blake today live in front of us was great. His arm looks, for the first time probably all year, free and easy,” Prior said.
Snell doesn’t have an exact timeline to return, but he’s finally making significant progress over two-plus months on the shelf.
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Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Max Muncy believes that the San Diego Padres are not the rivals of the Dodgers, contrary to what much of the Friars fanbase seems to insinuate.
The third baseman brought up the historical implications that truly create a rivalry, and despite the recent bad blood with the teams, it doesn’t quite meet the criteria.
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“The Padres bring everything that is in a rivalry, but you only have one rival,” Muncy said on Foul Territory. “I don’t like when people say you have rivals. If you have a rival, it’s your counterpart, and that’s always going to be the Giants for the Dodgers, at least. That’s always going to be the Red Sox for the Yankees.”
The Dodgers and Padres have met three times in the NLDS since 2020, but those are also the only postseason meetings of the two franchises. The stakes have been much higher in recent years, but to Muncy’s point, there is hardly any historical context.
“By definition, you can’t just decide to choose your rivalry because one team gets good,” Muncy said. “And for the Dodgers, that’ll always be the Giants.”
Much of the recent passion from the Padres towards the Dodgers can be linked to the 24 consecutive scoreless innings from the Friars after taking a 2-1 series lead in the 2024 NLDS.
A six-run outburst in Game 3 proved to be too much for the Dodgers to overcome that evening, but the next two games featured sheer dominance from L.A. as they rolled to the NLCS and their eventual eighth World Series in franchise history.
San Diego’s recent influx of competition is notable, and their run-ins with the Dodgers have brought spectacular moments. But without the same history that the Giants have with the Dodgers, the Padres-Dodgers rivalry won’t be seen in the same light as it is with San Francisco.
