The Los Angeles Dodgers might not begin the 2026 MLB season with Blake Snell in their Opening Day starting rotation.
Snell, 33, delayed the start of his offseason throwing program due to his left arm feeling “tired” and “exhausted” following six postseason appearances (five starts) that totaled 34 innings, the California Post’s Jack Harris reports. Snell’s workload included a 1 1/3-inning scoreless relief outing in the Dodgers’ Game 7 World Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
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“You want to ramp up, but I gotta take my time and get healthy,” Snell told Harris while appearing at a team charity event.
“I feel like I’m doing the right thing. I feel good. I’ve been throwing. It feels better,” he added. “In the postseason, I gave everything I had for that. But on the front end of spring, I’ll have to be patient and let my body get to 100%.”
Snell said the team is encouraging him to take a patient approach, preferring that he be completely healthy before pitching regular-season innings.
The Dodgers presumably have enough depth in their starting rotation to wait for Snell. World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani will be part of the starting staff, in addition to River Ryan, Gavin Stone and Emmet Sheehan being expected to contribute.
However, nearly all of those pitchers carry their own injury concerns.
The Dodgers might take a similarly cautious approach with Yamamoto, who had a spectacular postseason in which he pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief in Game 7 one night after throwing six innings in a Game 6 start. Altogether, he pitched 37 1/3 innings in six postseason appearances (five starts).
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Glasnow is injury-prone and was limited to 18 regular-season starts in 2025 due to right shoulder inflammation. In 2024, he made only 22 starts because of back tightness and elbow tendonitis throughout the season.
Sasaki struggled with a shoulder injury that forced the Dodgers to move him from the rotation to the bullpen during the postseason (in which he was an effective closer). And Ohtani’s innings must be monitored closely, sometimes with six or seven days between starts, while he balances turns in the rotation (following 2023 elbow surgery) with appearing in the every-day lineup as the team’s designated hitter.
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Among the hopeful reinforcements, Ryan missed all of last season while working his way back from Tommy John surgery in 2024. Stone also missed the 2025 campaign following shoulder surgery. Sheehan returned from reconstructive elbow surgery but made just 14 appearances (12 starts) last season.
Other rotation options for the Dodgers include Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius, Kyle Hurt, Landon Knack and Bobby Miller. All of those arms will likely be needed after 2025’s deep postseason run, with another one expected for 2026.