The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell will make his season debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves in a matchup of National League division leaders.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is set to rejoin the rotation sooner than anticipated after teammate Tyler Glasnow left a start early this week because of back trouble. Glasnow was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with low back spasms, and Los Angeles recalled right-hander Paul Gervase from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Snell missed most of the 2025 regular season because of a lingering shoulder injury, making just 11 starts after signing a $182 million, five-year contract in November 2024. But the left-hander went 3-2 in six postseason games to help the Dodgers win their second consecutive World Series title.

Snell has been on the IL since late March with left shoulder fatigue. He had been scheduled to make one more minor league rehabilitation start for Class A Ontario on Saturday, but instead will face the Braves at Dodger Stadium.

Glasnow exited after one inning against the Houston Astros on Wednesday. He had an MRI that showed “nothing really significant,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday before the opener of a three-game series against Atlanta.

Tupac bobblehead

BALTIMORE — Fans lined up well before the gates opened at Camden Yards on Friday night in anticipation of a Tupac Shakur bobblehead giveaway at the ballpark.

“I grabbed three of them,” Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said before a 4-3 loss to the Athletics.

Shakur was raised in New York and Baltimore before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s. He lived in Oakland, California, in the early 1990s, which made Friday’s matchup between the Orioles and Athletics an appropriate time to honor the rap icon, who was killed in 1996. The familiar riff from “California Love” was played while the starting lineup for the A’s — who left Oakland before last season — was being announced.

Albernaz said “Pain” when asked his favorite Tupac song.

“This is back on — I’m dating myself — Napster or LimeWire, trying to download that,” Albernaz said.

Boggs cancer-free

BOSTON — Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs said he’s been declared cancer free two years after announcing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“I’m a cancer survivor now. Prostate cancer is null and void. Thank God,” Boggs said Friday night after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before Boston’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park.