Q. I know you're someone who likes to take in a lot of information before each start. When you look at just the outing that you had against the Blue Jays in August compared to kind of what you've been seeing and preparing for now, without giving anything away, what stands out to you as to how different this lineup just could be if you think it is?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I mean, they got a lot of confidence right now. They're doing a good job of just, like, each at-bat fueling off of each other. Yeah, I was able to watch some games, and really 'em. I mean, they have always been a good lineup. Bat to ball is good. So, yeah, I'm excited for the challenge.
Q. You've obviously pitched in a World Series before, but going into this one, how does the night before compare to the maybe that first time?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, for me personally, it's just everything gets quiet and focused and just start processing what you want to happen, what you're going to face, and just start, yeah, building from that.
Q. For Toronto, Trey will be making his seventh ever big league start. I think your seventh start you got your first ever road win at Coors Field. How unprepared do you think you would have been back then being thrown into a game like tomorrow's?
BLAKE SNELL: I don't know. I don't know his journey versus what my journey was to get to the big leagues. Maybe he's pitched in a lot of games that have prepared him for it. I know he's been doing good with the playoffs. He had a really good game and a tough one and a decent one. So I don't know. There's just so much. He's facing a Dodgers lineup that's really good. How is he going to react to that. There's so many questions. And I don't know him personally, so I don't know, like, the makeup, but it's definitely a difficult task for him.
Q. Just looking at yourself, how much more do you know about pitching in the Major Leagues now than you knew then?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I was a baby. Yeah, I'm night and day different. Just experience is everything. It matters. It's what makes pitchers really good, is just time.
Q. How much and what aspects do you think you have improved since 2020?
BLAKE SNELL: 2020? I would say I've matured, I've grown up, become -- I was kind of a kid still in 2020, to now a man, family, wife. A lot has changed, yeah.
And then with the game of baseball, just how I view it is a lot different. It's more personal than it's ever been, just because I know I only have so much time left, I'm not young, and I don't really think about the ending, to where now I'm just more appreciative of the moments, the time, and what these mean for my career.
Q. Your last World Series game everybody remembers it, total dominance until they took you out. How long did it take you to process that whole night and how often do you still think about it now that you're back here finally?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I don't think about it really at all anymore. When it happened, I would say probably for, like, a week I was thinking about it, what could have been different, what I could have done. The ups and downs of just feelings. But then ultimately it led to, if I would have done more early on in my career to gain his trust, it would have been a different outcome, I think. So learn from it and ultimately it made me a better pitcher, just because I understand the game more than just myself, just the pieces, the parts and how it all works.
So, yeah, for about a week the ups and downs of could have been a World Series champ and all this, but there's still Game 7 and who knows if we win Game 6, and just so much in the air that, yeah, I finally just let it go.
Q. How do you approach big game hitters like Springer and Vlad?
BLAKE SNELL: I can't really give too much away. They're veteran hitters. They know what they're doing. They know what they're looking for. They're going to be like -- I don't know how to, like -- I could tell you in a week (laughing).
Q. You've won multiple Cy Youngs, you have pitched in the World Series, but where would this Game 1 start in a Dodgers uniform rank for your career?
BLAKE SNELL: Right now in the moment, it's the most important start of my career, yeah. I have a chance to win a World Series, the ultimate team goal, and, yeah, this is probably the biggest start of my career.
Q. I want to play off that question. The list of pitchers who have started Game 1 of a World Series for the Dodgers is pretty glittering. It's pretty famous. What does it mean to you to join that list?
BLAKE SNELL: I mean, yeah, it's exciting. I mean, I would have to look at the list and see who is on there, but I have ideas (laughing). No, I mean -- yeah, just wearing the uniform, a Dodger uniform, is special to me. So to be on that list is cool, but you want to have an impact on that list. That's more important.
Q. At the start of the playoffs, you talked about wanting to challenge yourself in this environment against the best players. What have you kind of learned going through these starts and how much fun have you had just being in this kind of an environment and pitching at this level and all the little things that go into having successful postseason starts, being able to do that?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, just learning. Each start, you just learn. You go through the game, you dissect what you like, what you don't like, what you got lucky, or maybe you didn't get lucky. But you're just trying to find a way to get better and you're trying to understand what's the hitter trying to do. That's the most important thing to pitching is understanding, like, what's their plan, how do you figure that part out.
Then you have environments. You play on the road. When you're younger, you can kind of let it spiral and get to you. As you get older, you just understand, like, it's an environment and it's however -- how are you going to take it. Like, are you going to be a part of it, are you going to enjoy it, or -- you just kind of learn from it.
But for me, I mean, this has been amazing. I pitched in Philly, Milwaukee, both were great crowds, electric. I saw the crowd Game 6 and Game 7 here. I watched both of those games fully. I was really impressed with the crowd here as well. So I can't wait. I'm excited. It's going to be great energy, good baseball, two really good teams. Yeah, I just can't wait to be a part of it.
Q. You always kind of talk about the idea of reading swings and sort of pitching off of that. How did you go about developing that? Is there anyone that's helped you along the way how to read swings, how to read hitters, and how to apply that in the middle of a game?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I mean, I've always loved watching the game. I've always loved baseball. I think that's the first part. I think once I won the first Cy Young in 2018, I was kind of clueless to how I did it. And in '19, I was like, I'm going to do it again, I'm the best, all that (laughing), and it didn't work (laughing), and I got hurt, and I thought I did everything I could to win it again.
Then I realized you have to get better, you have to learn. Winning a Cy Young is very difficult. And that's when I really started watching the game and developing a game plan, and what's going to make me different, I got to be different. But the only way to be better is you got to be different than everybody. So watching the game, asking questions, asking the older guys questions, like how do I have to adjust when I get to this age. And then really just challenging myself every day, like how do I get better. But, I mean, doing that I've just continually every year gotten so much better. But it's the people that are the veterans, the older guys, the pitching coaches that have all kind of helped me become the player I am now, but really the guy that I'm striving to be.
Q. To continue with that conversation, coming to this team you talked about wanting to pick Clayton Kershaw's brain. Are those the type of conversations you were having with him, and then looking at just the longevity that he's had in this league and wanting to attain that as well?
BLAKE SNELL: Yeah. And like, it's funny, because like everyone says, Well, how are those talks? How do you get there? But it's just conversation, it's just questions. You just ask questions, and we'll just have a normal conversation. But I'll ask questions and I'm like, Well, why did you do this, or, why were you thinking that way, or, like what do you think's the best part of your game. And then you ask that question and he replies. And then it's like, okay, well, how can you piece that to your game, and like what does that look like to you. Because ultimately you're building the best version of you, so you have to figure that part out. But Kershaw, like the best thing that he does is he competes. Like he could have nothing and he'll find a way to dominate because he's just so competitive. Like how do you learn that? You know, you got to ask questions, but then you got to figure out, well, like, what part, how can you do that, and that's the tough part.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports