The Dodgers Got Tarik Skubal

If Shohei Ohtani doesn't return to the pitcher's mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, they've got themselves a hell of a replacement.

Late Saturday night, the back-to-back defending world champions https://www.mlb.com/news/tarik-skubal-dodgers-tigers-trade">made the biggest trade deadline move possible, acquiring back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for three prospects.

This trade helps a strong team grow even stronger, and their 10-game lead in the NL West already makes the Dodgers the presumptive winners of that division yet again.

If their starting rotation was looking a little thin with the injuries to Ohtani, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow, it doesn't anymore.

The thrill of imagining Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting the first two games of a playoff series is exactly the feeling that contending teams should want to spark in their fans when they bring on a new guy at the deadline.

While MLB continues its http://defector.com/mlb-is-now-promoting-a-salary-cap-between-innings">campaign to get people mad at the Dodgers for spending money and winning, a half-season of Skubal's services was clearly within the budget of the league's other franchises, too—even the ones that keep payrolls low.

The Dodgers will https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id/26337/tarik-skubal">spend $9.5 million on his contract before he enters free agency, and they haven't parted with any irreplaceable players.

From this deal, the Tigers will add a pretty obscure single-A hurler; a 27-year-old pitcher in AAA named River Ryan that https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7486169/2026/08/02/tarik-skubal-trade-dodgers-tigers-return/">some folks seem to like; and, the best of the bunch according to MLB Pipeline, 21-year-old AA outfielder Zyhir Hope.