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MLB MLB Spring Training Blake Snell throws during a workout at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. He has yet to throw off a mound this spring. Mike Christy / Getty Images PHOENIX — The most boring camp in baseball is off and running, and the Los Angeles Dodgers wouldn’t want it to be described any other way. The reigning World Series champions don’t have much to answer at the moment. Most of their starting lineup is known. Their lone position battle — second base, which is likely to be a platoon — is on pause until Hyeseong Kim returns from the World Baseball Classic. Advertisement The Dodgers will continue slow-playing their veterans throughout spring. Mookie Betts will make his Cactus League debut Sunday. Freddie Freeman will play only home games. Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have left for the WBC. Will Smith and Edwin Díaz will depart within the next two days as well. Relievers Brusdar Graterol and Brock Stewart will join Tommy Edman on the injured list to start the year, but those designations were all more or less expected. Unless you’re a non-roster invite enthusiast, it isn’t exactly a thrilling time in Dodgers land — and that’s by design. The Dodgers have created a comfortable camp this spring, where the priority is for players to listen to their bodies and prepare themselves for the season. However, there are several underlying storylines to watch as spring games slowly step up. Here’s what we’re watching with one week of exhibition games in the books. The Dodgers still have not officially confirmed Snell will start the year on the injured list, but manager Dave Roberts said Monday the likelihood of that happening was “probably zero. ” That development is certainly not surprising. At this point, it’s an expectation. Snell came into spring with an asterisk, saying he was going to be deliberate with a slower ramp-up period this spring because of lingering left shoulder inflammation that plagued him for most of the 2025 season. Snell made just two starts last year before landing on the IL and did not pitch again until August. He was remarkable in the postseason, making five starts — including eight innings of one-hit ball against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series — and gutted out 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth innings of Game 7 of the World Series. Advertisement But Snell said in January he never felt normal, at least not to the extent he usually does, all of last year. He attributes that to rushing through spring, determined to pitch after the Dodgers signed him to a five-year, $182 million deal in free agency. “He pushed through things to start the season healthy, which is understandable. He was never right all year, ” Roberts said. “I think this year he’s going to make sure he’s ready to go and once he starts, to start healthy and finish strong. ” What will that look like? The Dodgers will have to wait and see. It is unlikely Snell will pitch in any exhibition games. He has yet to throw off a mound this spring, though Roberts expects him to do so before Cactus League play ends. There is no timetable for Snell’s return, but given the traditional nature of building up and stretching out, May looks to be the earliest targeted date. The Dodgers will likely need most of the spring to configure what is likely to be an unorthodox starting rotation. Roberts has spoken at length as to what he would like to break camp with. The floor for pitchers he would consider starters is four innings or 60 pitches, though he’d prefer to stretch them out to five innings and 75 pitches. That’s where Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan aim to be at the end of March. They probably won’t be in the rotation for the entirety of the season, but the Dodgers view Sheehan and Wrobleski as starters and will continue using them until either arm is needed elsewhere. Wrobleski recorded two scoreless innings Saturday and is right on track to hit that targeted innings number. Sheehan missed a few days of camp with an illness, and though he has not appeared in a spring game yet, he says he is on schedule and should see game action next week. “I’m preparing as a starter, ” Sheehan said. “The plan they gave me is as a starter. Whatever I can do to be here and contribute, I’ll be open to, but right now it’s looking like it would be a starter role. ” Advertisement With Snell out and Shohei Ohtani unlikely to be stretched out to a traditional starter workload (since he will not pitch in the World Baseball Classic), the Dodgers will need innings. Sheehan figures to make the rotation out of camp. Wrobleski could as well, though it’s more likely he’ll be used in a hybrid role or as a sixth starter. “To have so many guys built up, obviously, just gives us a lot of optionality, ” Roberts said. “I do think for Justin and Emmet, other guys that have done the hybrid, it’s allowed them to believe that they can do different things to get them ready to pitch in a major-league game. ” Asked for a summation as to what led to Tanner Scott’s troubles last year, Roberts didn’t mince words. “I just don’t think he was really throwing the baseball well last year, ” Roberts said. “It seemed like everything had a magnet to the center of the plate. ” The Dodgers signed Scott ahead of the 2025 season to lock down their late innings. What transpired instead was one of Scott’s worst seasons of his career, and Los Angeles had to embrace a closer-by-committee strategy for most of the latter half of the season. Scott carded a 4. 74 ERA over 61 appearances in 2025, with a second half that included a 6. 92 ERA over 13 innings and a month on the injured list. “I think I tried changing a little bit last year, and it cost me, ” Scott said. “It was a mental approach, trying to be perfect. ” Before Scott’s outing Saturday afternoon, Roberts said he wanted to see a better command of the slider and an ability to dot the fastball in multiple locations. Scott gave up a hit and struck out a batter in a scoreless inning of relief in the split-squad game against the Chicago Cubs, and the slider was indeed working. Spring outings are simply that, but for Scott, re-establishing his arsenal (and confidence) is of utmost importance. The ninth inning will belong to Edwin Díaz, but Los Angeles still needs to structure its leverage innings to ensure a save situation exists. Given their bullpen woes last year, that effort will be a priority. The Dodgers will need a more effective version of Scott as their set-up man, especially against high-power lefties. Advertisement But Scott is far from the only veteran reliever who needs to step up. Alex Vesia was one of the team’s most consistent arms last season, and the expectation is he’ll be used in the same role. Blake Treinen, on the other hand, is coming off the highest ERA of his career (5. 40 over 32 games), though he’s looked sharp in his minimal spring action so far. “Having guys you trust is everything for the pen to then get other guys … some breathing room. You got to count on those veteran guys for sure, ” Roberts said. With so much uncertainty surrounding the rotation, locking up answers in the bullpen will go a long way as the Dodgers piece together their roster. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Katie Woo is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball. She previously spent five seasons covering the St. Louis Cardinals for The Athletic, and was named the Missouri Sportswriter of the Year in 2022. Katie is a graduate from Arizona State University and originates from northern California. Follow Katie on Twitter @katiejwoo