Blake

Snell

Snell’s season ends at 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA and a 145/44 K/BB in 104 innings. All signs point to him opting out of his deal with the Giants and returning to free agency, where he’ll, uhhhh, surely enjoy a much more robust market than he did in coming off a Cy Young campaign in 2023.

Something cosmic happens to Snell in the second half of the season. He tore through the free-falling Royals with high fastballs, curveballs, and a tad more changeups than he’s been throwing of late. He has a microscopic 1.45 ERA since the All-Star break and is scheduled to face the Cardinals next week in his last start of the season.

It was an utterly dominant performance from Snell, who induced 22 whiffs on 43 swings for a whopping 51 percent whiff rate and 43 percent CSW. There’s not much more to say here. Snell simply dominated the Orioles and was only limited to six innings because striking out so many batters often takes a lot of pitches, and he was at 98 pitches after six innings when the Giants had a commanding lead. He’ll take a 3.31 ERA into a weekend start against the Royals.

Snell tossed a clean first inning, then worked around a bases-loaded jam in the second, striking out Brice Turang for the third out. Two doubles in the third inning put the Brewers on the board with one run. He went on to toss two more frames, striking out eight over five innings on his way to a win. The 31-year-old left-hander will take a 3.52 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and a 124/41 K/BB ratio across 92 innings into a start against the Orioles in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Snell needed 42 pitches to get through the inning, as he walked two and allowed two hits. Both runs scored in bizarre fashion, as one came across on an infield single featuring an error, and the other on a passed ball by Patrick Bailey on a strikeout of Jake McCarthy. As dominant as Snell has been since July, there are still starts like this that will drive fantasy managers insane. He should be fresh for Wednesday’s start against the Brewers.

Snell was matched zero-for-zero over the first six innings by Adam Oller — yes, that Adam Oller — but then gave up an RBI single to David Hensley in the seventh. It’s still a nice outing for the 31-year-old; and a nice bounceback from his control struggles against Seattle on Saturday. He walked just one in this one while allowing four hits. Snell will get the Diamondbacks on Thursday.

Snell didn’t allow any hits and he struck out five. Those are the positives, but the 31-year-old saw his recurring control issues come to a head with six free passes including back-to-back walks with the bases loaded. It’s disappointing considering how dominant Snell was in his previous outings, but this could have been a lot worse. He’s absolutely a must start next weekend against the Marlins.

Snell was brilliant again, but he wasn’t as efficient as he’d been in some of his other recent outings, and he wound up throwing exactly as many pitches (114) as he did in his no-hitter 10 days prior. He was also matched up against someone equally as brilliant in Chris Sale, so he wound up with a no-decision. He’s just 2-0 in spite of a 0.99 ERA and a 60/14 K/BB over 45 1/3 innings in his last seven starts.

Snell allowed four hits, walked one and struck out eight in the quality start. The three runs are the most he’s allowed in five starts since he came off the injured list last month.

The 31-year-old southpaw was exquisite in this one, piling up 21 swings and misses on 114 pitches on the night — 10 on his curveball — while registering an absurd CSW of 40 percent. He struck out the side in the first inning and didn’t allow a baserunner until a two-out walk to Jeimer Candelario in the second. Not once in the ballgame did the Reds have a runner reach second base, it was pure dominance. Snell has delivered perhaps the two best starts of his career each of the last two times out, and if that’s any indication of what’s to come the rest of the way — watch out. He’ll carry a 4.29 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a 72/24 K/BB ratio (56 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s matchup against the Nationals in Washington.