Dave Roberts Seems to Reveal Dodgers’ Domestic Opening Day Starting Pitcher

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has a solid idea of who will take the ball on March 27 for the team’s domestic Opening Day.

Roberts told reporters that he “wasn’t allowed to say it outright,” but Blake Snell is lined up to get the Dodger Stadium opener.

Snell’s next start will be one of the Tokyo exhibition games as the Dodgers intend to throw Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 1 and Roki Sasaki in Game 2.

The left-handed starter hasn’t looked particularly sharp this spring. Through two starts, he has given up four earned runs on six hits across 4.1 innings. He is 0-1 with a 7.71 earned run average. However, he has struck out six and only walked one.

Snell’s second start of Cactus League resulted in a 7-5 loss to the Athletics at Camelback Ranch Sunday. He gave up four runs on five hits over 3.2 innings, while striking out five on 67 pitches. 

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During his first start on Feb. 25, Snell gave up one hit and struck out one batter in his only inning of work.

Despite mixed results, Snell has been happy with his velocity, especially in his first appearance.

“I was looking at velo(city) more than I thought I was going to,” Snell said. “But yeah, really happy where that’s at.”

Snell’s fastball touched 96 mph consistently during the first outing and after the third out was recorded, he returned to the bullpen to work on his offspeed pitches.

“Fastball command is everything,” Snell said. “If you don’t have that, it’s going to be very tough to pitch in this league.”

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Snell, who agreed to a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers in November, won Cy Young Awards in 2018 with Tampa Bay and 2023 with San Diego. He is coming off a season in San Francisco where he went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA last season with the Giants, striking out 145 batters in 104 innings.

In his career, he is 76-58 with a 3.19 ERA in nine seasons with the Rays (2016-20), Padres (2021-23). and Giants.

Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

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