Through three postseason games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, former Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell has been the best version of himself and more. 

In the Dodgers’ 2-1 NLCS Game 1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Snell delivered his latest and greatest performance of the 2025 postseason, punching out 10 batters while allowing just one hit and no walks through eight shutout innings.  

In three playoff starts, the 32-year-old is 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA. It is a streak of dominance that Snell attributes to the learning experiences and those around him in his professional journey. 

In a discussion with three-time Cy Young Award winner and MLB Analyst Pedro Martinez, Snell chronicled his growth. 

“I was a really talented young kid in Tampa,” Snell said. “Didn't really know what I was doing. I just knew I had good stuff. Then I went to San Diego. Tampa kind of developed all the pitches.” 

The Rays selected Snell with the 52nd pick in the Competitive Balance A Round of the 2011 draft. In 2016, he made his MLB debut. Snell spent five years on the Rays staff, winning a Cy Young Award in 2018 and helping Tampa Bay reach the World Series in 2020. 

Following Tampa Bay’s World Series loss to the Dodgers, the organization traded Snell to the San Diego Padres that December. It was there that Snell experienced more growth. 

“I learned how to locate the pitches in San Diego the first couple years. And then my second year in San Diego, I started learning game plan.”  

Snell credits the identities of other pitchers around him and his former pitching coach, Ruben Niebla, for helping him form his own. 

“[Yu} Darvish was there, [Joe] Musgrove; they had their thing,” Snell said. “And then, uh, Ruben Niebla worked with me on creating my own thing of what I like to look at.” 

The process culminated in another Cy Young Award for Snell in 2023, when he logged a 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts over 32 starts. In November of that year, Snell elected free agency and eventually signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. 

For all the success Snell had enjoyed up to that point, he points to his time in San Francisco for learning how to pitch. 

“Going to San Francisco; that's where I learned how to pitch,” Snell said. “I was around Logan Webb. And man, he's going seven innings. It's like every game he's going seven innings. And I just would talk to him, like, how you doing it? Like, what are you thinking of?” 

“He's like, ‘man, I just, I'm in the zone. You're just not in the zone enough. You strike too many people out; you got to get in the zone more.” 

Webb told Snell that by getting into the zone, he would be able to extend his outings.  

“That year in San Fran was so big for me, just being around Logan and really learning how to pitch,” Snell added. All of that together is just kind of crafting me into the pitcher I am today.” 

A decade into being on the Major League stage, Snell continues to see improvement. 

“I feel like I'm getting better, I'm learning more, and I'm reading swings.” 

 “I'm just, you know, I'm obsessed with the game.”