The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will turn to a newcomer when the club opens the domestic portion of its schedule, announcing that left-hander Blake Snell will take the mound Thursday at home against the Detroit Tigers.

Snell will start Thursday against Detroit. Freddie Freeman returns to the lineup for Sunday’s Freeway Series exhibition game against the Angels, but Mookie Betts is a late scratch.

The Tigers, a team on the rise, will open their quest for a second consecutive playoff berth against the team at the top. That sight isn’t lost on the young players who led Detroit on an incredible late-season run last year to its first postseason berth in a decade.