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<\/p>\nLOS ANGELES \u2013 The Dodgers clubhouse has learned to live with the slow burn of a long season, where April questions don\u2019t always have immediate answers. But on Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, there was something tangible\u2014something closer to clarity\u2014when Blake Snell took a meaningful step forward.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t flashy. It wasn\u2019t dominant. And it certainly wasn\u2019t about results.<\/p>\n
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It was about presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me personally, It\u2019s just an exercise,\u201d Roberts said pregame on what he was looking for in Snell\u2019s session.<\/p>\n
Snell threw a simulated inning at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, facing Tommy Edman twice\u2014once from each side of the plate\u2014in a controlled but important environment. 15 pitches. One inning. A small box checked, but a significant one nonetheless.<\/p>\n
For a pitcher of Snell\u2019s caliber, the road back isn\u2019t measured purely in radar gun readings or painted corners. Manager Dave Roberts made that clear before the game, emphasizing that Saturday\u2019s session wasn\u2019t about command or velocity. It wasn\u2019t about winning a sequence or fooling a hitter.<\/p>\n
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It was about feel.<\/p>\n
And maybe more importantly, it was about freedom\u2014getting back on a mound, facing a hitter, and letting the body and mind reconnect to the rhythm that makes Snell who he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s in a good spot,\u201d Roberts said, a simple sentence that carried weight considering the uncertainty that often shadows pitcher recoveries.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers aren\u2019t rushing this. They rarely do with arms that matter. The plan is deliberate: see how Snell recovers, build him up to two innings next, then three, and eventually stretch him toward four innings before a likely rehab assignment.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a progression that values sustainability over urgency, even for a team with October expectations baked into its DNA.<\/p>\n
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But make no mistake\u2014this isn\u2019t abstract anymore. This is real progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to him yesterday a little bit in the dugout,\u201d Roberts said Saturday afternoon. \u201cHe\u2019s getting antsy but I think he\u2019s just excited because he feels strong and feels healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside the organization, there\u2019s a growing sense that Snell\u2019s return isn\u2019t just theoretical. Early May is now a reasonable target, not an optimistic guess. And for a rotation that has had to navigate its share of early-season variables, adding a pitcher with Snell\u2019s swing-and-miss arsenal changes the equation.<\/p>\n
Not all at once. Not immediately. But meaningfully.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Blake Snell #7 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field on August 02, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n
Robert Sloter – The Sporting Tribune<\/p>\n
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Blake Snell #7 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field on August 02, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also an understated benefit to what Saturday represented: Snell facing a hitter like Edman, who can switch-hit, gave him a different kind of challenge than a standard bullpen. Even in a controlled setting, that variability matters. It sharpens instincts. It tests sequencing. It reintroduces the unpredictability that defines real competition.<\/p>\n
And yet, the Dodgers aren\u2019t pretending this was anything more than a step.<\/p>\n
A good step, yes. An encouraging one, certainly. But still just one.<\/p>\n
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The coming days will matter just as much\u2014how Snell\u2019s body responds, how the arm bounces back, how the feel translates when the workload increases. That\u2019s where rehabs are won or lost, in the quiet hours between sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 The Dodgers clubhouse has learned to live with the slow burn of a long season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[33146,64,63,5781,10214,12420,293062,293063,1187,591,85,1190,10219],"class_list":{"0":"post-601339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-call","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-blake-snell","12":"tag-dave-roberts","13":"tag-dodger-stadium","14":"tag-george-m-steinbrenner","15":"tag-george-m-steinbrenner-field","16":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","20":"tag-tommy-edman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}