When Blake Snell took the mound for the final time in the regular season on Saturday afternoon, he eased any lingering concerns the Dodgers may have had after the southpaw exited his previous start with left groin tightness. The Dodgers wanted to see Snell make close to a full start in order to feel good about him taking the ball going forward, but they weren't going to push him. So Snell's outing was finished after he had thrown four innings on 77 pitches (50 strikes), allowing one run on five hits while striking out three Giants. "There's a balance between getting your work in, making sure you feel good coming out of it," manager Dave Roberts said before the Dodgers' 4-3 win at Oracle Park, their 99th of the season. Snell's status had been the primary concern surrounding L.A.'s daunting four-man postseason rotation that also features Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal and Tyler Glasnow. Now that Snell has made his final regular-season tuneup, the main question for the Dodgers is how to line up their starting four for the NL Division Series, which begins on Oct. 3 at Dodger Stadium.
