Blake Snell cope is maddening after injury-plagued regular season for Dodgers

Blake Snell had plenty of reasons to be frustrated after the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday. But his postgame explanation probably wasn't the best way to earn sympathy from an already exasperated fan base.

"Three home runs in game... I didn't even give up one the whole year, so to have three in a game is pretty frustrating," Snell said afterward.

Buddy. You pitched in nine games the entire regular season.

Technically, Snell isn't wrong. He didn't surrender a single home run in his nine regular-season starts, spanning 42 2/3 innings. He also posted a 1.90 ERA and struck out 55 batters. But invoking a season-long accomplishment when you barely participated in the season feels like a pretty convenient way to frame what just happened.

And what happened was disastrous.

The Dodgers entered Wednesday facing a 2-0 series deficit, desperately needing their two-time Cy Young Award winner to deliver with their season hanging in the balance. Instead, Snell surrendered a leadoff homer to Jackson Chourio on his very first pitch.

He settled down considerably afterward, retiring 14 consecutive batters and giving Los Angeles an opportunity to climb back into the game.

The Dodgers finally did just that in the sixth inning, when Will Smith delivered a two-run double to give them a 2-1 lead. But the wheels fell off in the seventh.

After walking Andrew Vaughn, Snell surrendered a go-ahead two-run homer to Jake Bauers following an 11-pitch battle. Garrett Mitchell followed immediately with another solo shot, effectively extinguishing whatever momentum Los Angeles had generated.

Suddenly, the Dodgers were trailing again, and Snell's previously spotless home run record wasn't worth much of anything.

Dodgers fans have every right to expect more from Blake Snell

The frustration surrounding Snell goes well beyond one postseason collapse. Los Angeles committed $182 million over five years to acquire him before the 2025 season. Since then, his availability has become an increasingly frustrating part of the investment.

Snell made just 11 regular-season starts in 2025 while battling shoulder problems. This year was somehow worse.

He opened 2026 on the injured list because of shoulder fatigue, made one start in May, then underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow. He didn't return to a major-league mound until August.

That isn't an indictment of Snell for getting injured. Injuries are obviously not something players choose, and nobody should question the work required to return from surgery. But availability matters, especially when you're being paid like one of the game's premier starting pitchers.

Across two regular seasons with the Dodgers, Snell has made just 20 starts. He has undeniably been excellent when healthy, but that's precisely the problem. The Dodgers have spent an awful lot of time waiting for him to actually be healthy. And when the team needed him most Wednesday, he couldn't finish the job.

To be fair, Snell wasn't solely responsible for the loss. The Dodgers' offense managed just five hits, and Dave Roberts' decision to send him back out for the seventh inning deserves scrutiny.

Still, there's something especially maddening about emphasizing how you didn't allow a home run all year when you spent most of that year unable to pitch.

Dodgers fans aren't interested in protecting a statistical streak built over nine starts. They're interested in winning another World Series. And with Los Angeles now facing a 3-0 deficit, Snell's impressive regular-season home run total is about as comforting as the Dodgers' rapidly disappearing championship hopes.

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