There’s no question that the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken over for the New York Yankees as the “bad guys” or evil empire of Major League Baseball.
They’ve won 12 division titles in 13 seasons, and in the one outlier, won 106 games to finish one back of the San Francisco Giants. Their 2022 team was one of the most successful ever assembled, becoming just the seventh team in baseball history to win more than 110 games. Though they were quickly bounced in the National League Division Series for their troubles.
After over three decades, they finally broke through in 2020 and won their first World Series. And they haven’t stopped winning them since, beating the Yankees in five games in 2024, then closing out the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025 with one of the best World Series Game 7’s ever.
But what makes opposing fans most upset is that they haven’t rested on their laurels. Even after winning a championship, their front office has committed to improving the roster. After 2024, they signed Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Michael Conforto, and Roki Sasaki. Then, when Scott and Sasaki struggled, they signed Edwin Diaz and replaced Conforto with Kyle Tucker.
That led to a series of complaints in the offseason that the Dodgers were “ruining baseball.” That they’d run away from the rest of the league in 2026. Fast forward a third of the way through the season and LA’s division lead over the San Diego Padres is all of…half a game.
With the NL West seemingly up for grabs, and facing the typical rash of pitcher injuries, the Dodgers front office could be looking to improve ahead of the trade deadline. And who offers more improvement than one of the best pitchers in baseball, Tarik Skubal?
While Skubal is set to reach free agency after the 2026 season, the Detroit Tigers seemed to want to build around him this year to make another postseason run. They signed Framber Valdez, brought back Gleyber Torres, added Kenley Jansen for the bullpen, and took a flier on Justin Verlander.
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To say it hasn’t worked out would be an understatement. Instead of running away with a weak AL Central, the Tigers sit 10 games back of the Cleveland Guardians. They’re 1-9 in their last 10, with seven straight losses. After their impressive depth shined in 2025, the player position group has declined precipitously in 2026. They’re 27th out of 30 teams offensively, per Fangraphs, struggled defensively, and in the process, saw Skubal hit the injured list with arm surgery.
Given Skubal’s status as a pending free agent, the Tigers collapse has led to speculation that they could look to flip the 29-year-old superstar. Enter the Dodgers.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale posted over the weekend, “The question is not when Detroit Tigers 2-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal will return, but how long he will actually remain a Tiger when he does return.”
Robert Murray, another MLB reporter, then added “(Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew) Friedman could go out and get him. He ups a team’s chances to win the World Series by a pretty big margin. You get two starts in that five-game series. Friedman gets him, that’s my prediction.”
While not mentioning a specific team, Jon Heyman added something similar, posting: “Tarik Skubal trade chances are rising. 1. Tigers have lost 14 of 16 and are in last and 5 games out in WC race. 2. Tigers have 5 starters on IL. 3. Skubal is progressing since elbow scope. 4. Tigers chances to extend him are nil.”
ESPN’s Buster Olney posted on the other side of a Skubal trade, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris. “The table read on Harris is that he’s not going to go all-in in a long-shot effort to make the postseason if he thinks he doesn’t have a good enough [team]. But Skubal could have enormous value at the deadline,” he wrote.
It’s still relatively early, giving the Tigers time to recover. The American League is so, well, bad, this season that they’re just five games out of a wild card spot even at 20-32. A potential Skubal trade is complicated by the fact that he’ll need to get back to a big league mound successfully in order to re-establish the type of value Detroit would want in return. And most teams shudder at the thought of giving up quality, cost controlled future talent for a few month rental.
All that said though, where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. The Tigers are realistic, knowing that Skubal is likely to get $350-400 million on the open market. If their season continues to spiral, trading him could add to their already impressive farm system and allow for a quick reload. And the Dodgers are one of the few teams with the will to win, money, and prospect capital to get a deal done.
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Snell is on the injured list with an arm surgery of his own. Tyler Glasnow is out with back problems. Sasaki, while showing signs of improvement, still has a 4.93 ERA and would likely not be trusted to start in a postseason series. Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan have also been inconsistent and would hardly stand in the way of adding Skubal.
Since the start of 2023, Skubal’s put up a 2.41 ERA in 84 games, striking out nearly 11 hitters per nine innings with a 31.2% strikeout rate and just 4.5% walk rate. There are few pitchers you’d rather have starting a playoff game. And the Dodgers farm system has plenty of players that could tempt Detroit.
Outfielders Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Eduardo Quintero, and Mike Sirota are all top prospects. James Tibbs III has hit 11 home runs in 48 games in AAA with a .316/.424/.599 batting line. Alex Freeland has already shown flashes of being an above average player in the big leagues. Emil Morales has a .955 OPS in single-A as a shortstop. And Charles Davalan has looked impressive in high-A.
Would fans be happy about it? No, they certainly wouldn’t. Is a trade guaranteed? Also no. But the Dodgers have the prospects, they have the money to try and entice Skubal to stay with an extension, and they have the desire to make history with a three-peat. It’s hard to imagine a better October rotation than Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. If the Tigers keep losing, Dodgers fans might not have to imagine it.
