Blake Snell (9-5-26)

0:00Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town. Developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is our town. A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back. I guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to our town on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started and she died again. And now, we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The Third Way. I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast Hollywood Land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history, separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them.

1:01Hollywood Land is part of the exactly right network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Michael and Perry Oli. I want to tell you about my new podcast Underground Zero. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families. It's about the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. What's in the tunnels? Go Bosch of Engage. It'll be worth half a billion. Starring Steve Sherrippa, Ray Abruzzo, and me, Michael and Perry Oli. How far you prepared to go? Depends how far you are. Listen to Underground Zero on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Brett Coleman and I'm Trevor Sikama. If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show NFL Pro. This week we break down the biggest plays, trends and matchups using exclusive next-gen stats, insights, and NFL content you will not find anywhere else. Whether you're new to football, a fantasy football fanag, or a die-hard fan,

2:01NFL Pro will help you analyze the game like a pro. Listen to NFL Pro on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Little Richard. And we pull apart the story behind the image, discovering forgotten interviews that change exactly how we see these giants of our culture. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I'm Immanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. And now an exclusive interview with David Bassay for Dodger Talk. This guy is on everybody's radar now, but he has not forgotten the little people. The guys that were there since day one, and that is my guy, Snell Zilla, who is in disguise with the hoodie over his head because everybody wants a piece of the two-time, two-time,

3:06Sai Young Award winner, a guy that's thrown a no-hitter in his career and a world series champion. That's the one and only Blake Snell. Thanks a lot for the time, and I think everybody now knows that you're joining us. You're a wild boy, man. Smelling the best, thanks to you, Snell Zilla. I got you a de Cologne. Thanks for having me. I think that was the condition, right? You said I need a good smelling interview, so I'm going to spray you with some of my top shelf stuff. Yeah, you got some bockar out on. Yeah, you'll be smelling nice all day. Thank you so much, and you were smelling nice last night after the game, Six Shuddy against one of the best off-fans in baseball. When you look at a game like last night, how much do you dissect or do you move on? No, like I'll think about the next couple days of what I could have done better, where I thought that I did really good. And then you create a plan of, okay, what are the areas that need to get better,

4:07and what are the areas that need to stay consistent, and continue to improve that gradually, and that's kind of what I do. So a lot of today is just really thinking, going over, really understanding the way I felt in situations, and then how to build and grow on them. I never asked you this before. I know you do your homework. We see the Snell Zilla binder, and the way you dissect a lineup before you go into a start. But how much do you visualize success before a start? Uh, yeah, it's a good amount. Yeah, I just, I don't know, I just think of myself as the best in the world, and that's what I want to be, and that's what I'm chasing on being, and it's all I really care about, yeah. Do you feel that there are still doubts after everything you've accomplished in your career? People still doubt what you can do? Yeah, but they don't know me, so I don't matter. Hunter Fadoosh had told me in Detroit, he said, having a pregame meeting with you is one of the most enlightening, greatest pregame meetings with the picture he's ever been part of,

5:10because you have a plan when you walk into that room, and you go down the line up, and I asked him whether it's like a rap cadence, like, what's the cadence of the whole meeting? And he said, yeah, there's a little, there's a rhythm to the whole thing. Yeah, there's definitely a rhythm. Yeah, I like to go into it knowing where I'm going to attack, where my success is going to be, where I'm going to need to challenge them and their strengths, and then the game will tell you, you feel the game out, and you go through it, and it'll tell you what you need to do when you need to get on the accelerator versus be more passive, and yeah, it's pitching. And you call your own pitches with the pitchcom. How much has that helped you in just getting everybody on the same page? Yeah, I love it, because if I go up a hit, or if anything bad happens, you know, it's on me, it's not on the catcher, it's on me. I can't be here like, why don't you call it, you know, I'm the one calling it, so I love it. Blake Snell is our guest.

6:10When you look at this whole staff, it feels like you guys really feed off each other. What kind of competition in a good way is there amongst yourself, scuba glass now, and Yamamoto? Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. You got four, you know, A starters. And we're all competing against each other, but we're all pushing for each other to be great, you know, set the bar high, and the next person to set it even higher. So I love the staffs. It's I've been here with glass, Yam, show, hey, I've really loved our starting staff. I think we all get along, we all support each other. We're all pushing in the same direction. We all want to be great. And that's an amazing thing. And then now adding scuba to the mix. I mean, he's fitting perfectly, and he's only getting better. He's getting more comfortable. He's starting to get his understanding of the game. We're starting to understand what he likes to do. It takes a little bit of time, so let that time happen, and then, you know, he's been pitching good anyways,

7:11but I know he's going to pitch even better. Yeah, do you feel like we've seen the best of scuba yet? No, I think, I mean, tough first innings. It's been kind of the cadence with him lately, and you know, it's him feeling it out. Once he gets going, he gets that rhythm, and you know, he's comfortable. He's going to be, you know, the scuba everyone talks about. He set up a dinner for you guys in Detroit. How far does that go with teammates for a guy that's new to the team to really want to be part of it, and invite you guys out and put something together in his old city? No, it was awesome. And the food was amazing, and honestly, it was so good for us to get out and be a team, and just talk and hang out and be friends, and no, that was awesome. And that was such a big thing, you know, for him to think of the team and do that. And that means a lot for him, for you to show up, because Blake Snell really doesn't leave his room that often. I'll be playing 2K, I'll be playing NCAA, you get the smoke whenever you want it. Right now, my 2K build is trash.

8:12I got to fix that, but yeah, when it comes to a team event, I'm gonna be there. That's another perception that's not accurate. Just how much you want to be part of the team. It's not just about you. Yeah, I don't know where that comes from, probably people that don't know me, but I've always been a team player, and I've always been all about the team. So, the people that say that say differently, they don't know me, so why are you listening to me? That's right, this is the only place where you can find out what the great Snellzilla is all about. I think Tarrick Scoubles found out some things about you. It feels like he has your back as well, because he said the same thing. People that have this perception of you don't really know you. He's found out a lot about you. Yeah, no, we've grown a really good friendship thus far, and I'm excited to see where that goes, and I think it's only gonna make us better and stronger for the postseason if all of us starters are really connected and close. Is it weird? I know you're still a young man, but you've had a lot of experience,

9:13and you've pitched in a lot of big games for a guy like Scoubles to really value your opinion in scouting reports. What does that mean? Yeah, I don't even think Nesterra, I mean, it's cool that he does, but I think he has his plan and his philosophy, and I just ask questions and see if that sparks anything for him to want to change or keep the same, or, but no, I mean, he's done all of this on his own, and for us, it's just, we're just having a conversation, learning from each other from, you know, what we've seen and the way we felt being on the mound, et cetera. Blake, I know you were telling me after you had your bone chips removed, that all of a sudden you had more range of motion, and you were really excited for how you could execute your pitches again, after being hurt for so long. Have you seen that come to fruition, like the way you were describing it before? Have you? I have, I have seen it. Yeah, that's why I asked that question. Yeah, I mean, I knew that a curve ball was going to be 10 times better.

10:14The first time I threw it was like the way I was throwing it in game and I was just lobbing it, so I was like, this is going to be a joke. So yeah, it's nice finally having my curve ball back, and it's so much room to get better, you know, I just, I got to keep throwing it, and I'll just continue to, to maturate and get better, and I'm really looking forward to that. When do you know you have that feel? And you can't give up on that feel, right? If you don't have it in the first inning. Yeah, it's just confidence, you know, like, I mean, there's coaches I've told me to bang the change up. It's not a good pitch. When I didn't have the curve ball, look what I had to change up. Look what saved me, the change up. Look what made me, you know, being able to go 6, 7, 8, the change up. And right now the change up is good, but the curve ball's so good, it's just, I don't even know when to throw it. That's that good. You don't know when to throw it. Yeah, because I like the curve ball, the contact on this week, if it is contact. Yeah, you've, you certainly have showed that early on

11:14where your secondary pitches are, are such a weapon to go off your command of the fastball, but isn't that where it starts the command of the fastball? Yeah, the commands everything, on really all the pitches, but I mean, I'm chasing like the perfect version of myself, so I just, yeah, I don't know how to really express, I just have so much work to do. I know I do, and I know I can be that as good as I want to be, and that's all I care about. I just want to be the best version of myself, so when it's all said and done, I can just know that I did everything I could to be the best version of me. Blake Snell is our guest. Before I let you go, I got to let you in on something you would appreciate. My fifth grade son was at his friend's house. They're playing MLB the show, and they said they put you to the test on MLB the show. And I said, hey, did Snell Zilla pass? And he laughed. He said, of course he did. Yeah, of course it's right, but honestly, my card in the MLB the show is trash. You need a sinker and a cutter to be good in that game, bitching.

12:14So you say they're short-changing you on the card, even though you pass? No, I just know that he loves me's period, so I appreciate that, but that card's trash. All right, hey, the show, clean it up. You got to give Snell Zilla some love. Now everybody's texting me. Everybody's calling this guy a savant. You should have known that before. You got to believe before you see. Oh, are you hating that? That's right. I'm here for you. Thanks a lot for the time. Can't wait to do this again on another Snell Zilla Saturday. I can't wait either, man. I appreciate it. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town. Developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is our town, a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back. I guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to our town on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

13:16or wherever you get your podcasts. On August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe died. Then the rumors started and she died again. And now, we're going to set the record straight and learn about the way Marilyn Monroe actually died. The Third Way. I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast, Hollywood Land, I revisit some of the biggest stories from Hollywood history, separating the myths people want to believe from the reality underneath them. Hollywood Land is part of the exactly right network. Listen to new episodes every Monday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Michael and Perry Oli. I want to tell you about my new podcast, Underground Zero. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families. It's about the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. What's in the tunnels? Go boss of an English, it'll be worth half a billion. Starring Steve Sharipa, Ray Abruzzo, and me, Michael and Perry Oli.

14:17How far you prepared to go. Depends how far you are. Listen to Underground Zero on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Brett Coleman, and I'm Trevor Sikama. If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show, NFL Pro. Every week, we break down the biggest plays, trends, and matchups using exclusive next-gen stats, insights, and NFL content you will not find anywhere else. Whether you're new to football, a fantasy football fanag, or a die-hard fan, NFL Pro will help you analyze the game like a pro. Listen to NFL Pro on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Little Richard. And we pull apart the story behind the image, discovering forgotten interviews that change exactly how we see these giants of our culture. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes.

15:17I'm Immanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.