The Dodgers face the Brewers in the NLCS for a second straight year, and Snell says he is still chasing the finish he missed last October.
The Dodgers are back in the NLCS against the Brewers for the second year running, and once again it is Blake Snell's turn to carry the load. Last postseason Snell was brilliant through three starts before the World Series got away from him, two rough outings against the Blue Jays that left him unsatisfied even after Los Angeles won it all.
Snell says that finish has stuck with him. "It's always how you finish," he said, looking back on a run that included 1 ⅓ scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 of the World Series but little comfort beyond that. He also revealed a detail from the round before: in Game 1 of last year's NLCS against the Brewers, when he held Milwaukee to one hit over eight scoreless innings, he could not feel his fingers. It turns out the same was true in the World Series starts that followed.
Now Snell is back against the same Brewers team, with Los Angeles again leaning on him to set the tone early in the series. He has also been watching how Milwaukee operates on and off the field this time around, aware that the Brewers know what worked against them last year and are looking for answers.