Blake Snell has already collected two Cy Young Awards and a World Series ring. As the Los Angeles Dodgers chase a third straight championship, the left-hander made it clear that regular-season hardware is not what he believes will define his career.

“If you want to be a Hall of Famer, if you want to be a legend in the game, I think it all happens in October,” Snell said on Saturday.

The timing fits. The Dodgers handed Snell the ball for Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, one day after Tarik Skubal and the Los Angeles offense took the opener 5-3 at Dodger Stadium. Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy all homered, while Skubal retired the first 15 batters he faced and allowed one run over six innings.

Lining up Snell behind Skubal was a deliberate choice. The Braves struggled against left-handed pitching during the regular season, hitting .240 with a .396 slugging percentage, and manager Dave Roberts has noted that the club has four starters it can deploy in different ways. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to start Game 3 in Atlanta.

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Snell's path to this start was anything but smooth. He appeared in just nine games in 2026 after dealing with shoulder fatigue and elbow trouble that required surgery to remove loose bodies. He also had to work through groin tightness before his final regular-season outing on September 26.

When healthy, though, he looked like the pitcher the Dodgers paid for. Over his last eight starts, Snell allowed only five earned runs across 39 2/3 innings while striking out 50. He told reporters he felt great heading into the postseason.

That late surge matters for a pitcher who clearly measures himself by what happens after September. Snell's regular-season resume already stacks up well against his peers, but his comments suggest he knows that a lasting place in baseball history usually gets settled on the biggest stage.

The Dodgers will need him to back that up. A Game 2 win would send Los Angeles to Atlanta with a 2-0 lead and put the Braves on the brink of elimination in the best-of-five series.