Blake Snell to make Dodgers’ season debut Saturday

While it remains unclear if the Dodgers will have to place Tyler Glasnow on the injured list, the team will get another star pitcher back from the IL sooner than expected.

The club is planning to start Blake Snell on Saturday against the Braves, according to a source, rather than have him make what was originally scheduled to be a final minor-league rehab outing with Single-A Ontario.

Though the corresponding move for Snell’s activation wasn’t immediately clear, it comes in the wake of Glasnow’s recent back injury, which forced him to leave a Wednesday start in Houston after one inning.

Snell has been sidelined since the start of the season after battling shoulder fatigue throughout the winter.

He had made three minor-league rehab outings over the last several weeks, building up to four innings in his most recent appearance with Triple-A Oklahoma City last Sunday.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner will try to pick up where he left off last year, when he produced a 3.18 ERA in six postseason games to help anchor the Dodgers’ rotation during their run to a World Series title. That followed a regular-season performance in which Snell went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA, while missing most of the first half with an initial shoulder problem.

Snell’s early return could represent foreboding news regarding Glasnow, who had been hoping not to miss any time after his back “gave out” on him while warming up before the second inning Wednesday.

If Glasnow goes on the IL, however, Snell could serve as his direct replacement.

In that scenario, the rest of the Dodgers’ current six-man starting pitching group would remain intact –– nullifying recent speculation about whether one of Emmet Sheehan, Roki Sasaki or Justin Wrobleski would lose their rotation spot to make room for Snell’s return.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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