Blake Snell to return from IL on Tuesday as Dodgers rotation begins to take shape

The Los Angeles Dodgers might be on a losing streak, but they’re about to get a rather important player back from the injured list.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday that Blake Snell will return to the rotation on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals, according to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Trade deadline pick-up Tarik Skubal will also reportedly make his Dodger Stadium debut on Monday.

Snell has made only one start all season, having begun 2026 on the injured list due to shoulder fatigue. He made a single bad start in May before returning to the IL, this time with loose bodies in his pitching elbow. He wound up undergoing the same procedure to remove them as Skubal did weeks earlier.

While Skubal needed only 38 days to return from his loose bodies, Snell took a longer road back. The two-time Cy Young Award winner began a rehab assignment on July 18 and has made four starts since, topping out at 73 pitches on Tuesday for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets.

This would hardly be the first season Snell has no-showed the first half of the season only to look like one of the best arms in the game in the second half. He holds a 4.00 career ERA in the first half and a 2.33 ERA in the second half, with nearly equal innings despite the first half taking up more of the calendar.

He was a key pitcher for the Dodgers during their World Series run last year, posting a 3.18 ERA across six appearances (five starts plus a relief appearance in their legendary Game 7 win).

The Dodgers will happily welcome him back as their rotation starts to take its true form. The team has plugged along with the likes of Eric Lauer and Emmet Sheehan, who was optioned earlier this week, in its rotation, but its postseason rotation is almost certain to feature Snell, Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and one of Shohei Ohtani or Tyler Glasnow.

Glasnow is also currently on the IL due to the lower back spasms and recently began a rehab assignment, while Ohtani has been off the mound since the first half due to knee discomfort.

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