Dave Roberts nearly repeated embarrassing history with crucial decision in Game 1

Game 1 of the National League Championship series did not fall the Milwaukee Brewers’ way. After just one day off following their thrilling NLDS win over the Chicago Cubs, a result of the team failing to put away their division rivals at Wrigley Field after gaining a 2-0 series lead, the Brew Crew came out of the gates slowly in their quest for their first National League pennant in franchise history.

However, an NLDS hangover was not the main culprit for Milwaukee's slow start in their best-of-seven series with the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers; that responsibility falls on 2x Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who turned in the best starting pitching performance of the 2025 postseason. Not even Cam Schlittler's 12-strikeout gem against the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series could overshadow the masterful display of pitching that Snell showcased last night. The Dodgers' southpaw faced the minimum through eight one-hit innings, making a Brewers lineup that had all of the momentum in the world after their Game 5 victory over the Cubs on Saturday night, look silly.

The only thing that could have made Snell's performance more impressive last night was if he had been able to come back out for the ninth inning and finish off a complete game, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in the postseason since Justin Verlander tossed nine innings of one-run ball against the New York Yankees back in 2017.

However, when it came time to decide who would pitch the final frame, with Snell already at 103 pitches, Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts elected to pull his ace, despite the Brewers hitters' having absolutely no answer for the southpaw's lethal arsenal of pitches. The decision nearly backfired, which would have replicated an embarrassing moment in playoff history that also involved a manager pulling Blake Snell earlier than he should have.

Dave Roberts' decision to pull Blake Snell in Game 1 had shades of Kevin Cash's infamous 2020 World Series decision

Let me take you back to 2020 for a moment (likely against your will, because who wants to remember that year). The Dodgers, who eliminated the Brewers in the first round of the 2020 playoffs, were facing the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. Heading into Game 6 at Globe Life Field (all of the 2020 World Series games were played in Texas), the Dodgers held a 3-2 series lead over the Rays, with a chance to secure their first World Series title since 1988. Standing in the way of their chance at history? Then-Tampa Bay ace Blake Snell.

Snell dominated the first five innings of the game, allowing no runs, one hit, and collecting nine strikeouts. However, in the sixth inning, after Snell allowed a one-out single to AJ Pollock, Rays manager Kevin Cash elected to pull his starter from the game, despite Snell being at just 73 pitches. Snell's replacement, Nick Anderson, allowed a double to the first batter he faced, Mookie Betts, and proceeded to allow two runs to score, one of which was credited to Snell, thus handing the Dodgers the lead in the blink of an eye.

Los Angeles went on to win the game and the asterisk-riddled World Series, ending a 32-year championship drought. Meanwhile, Rays fans were left wondering why Cash pulled Snell so early in the game after he carved up the Dodgers' lineup for the first 16 outs.

Fast forward to last night, and Dave Roberts, who was the beneficiary of Cash's misstep, faced a similar decision. Should he pull Snell after eight strong innings, turning the ball over to his shaky bullpen that had been strengthened by the emergence of Roki Sasaki, or allow his ace to finish off the game? Ultimately, he chose the former, and the decision nearly came back to bite him, as Milwaukee finished the game with the tying run just 90 feet away.

The two situations are far from exact carbon copies of one another -- Snell was at 103 pitches when Roberts pulled him last night -- but the fact that the Dodgers almost blew the game after Snell was pulled, similarly to how he was back in 2020, is ironic. Had the Brewers come back to win last night's game, one can only imagine how the baseball world would have reacted to Roberts repeating history by taking Blake Snell out of a playoff game earlier than he should have been pulled.