Dodgers Land Tarik Skubal From Tigers
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Dodgers acquired Tarik Skubal, called "arguably the best pitcher in baseball," from the Tigers in a Saturday night trade.
- Tigers dealt their ace while sitting 2½ games out of a playoff spot, after going 32-20 since the end of May — a pace that would have landed a Wild Card berth.
- Brewers had the best record in baseball last season, have made the playoffs seven of the last eight years, and were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS — yet did not outbid Los Angeles, per the column.
- Skubal is owed roughly $10 million for the rest of the season, and the Brewers were projected to draw over 2.5 million fans, per the column's argument against cost as a barrier.
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the deal: "there's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done."
- Rays, Cubs, Braves, and White Sox also had the prospect capital to bid for Skubal but did not, according to the column.
Why it matters: The column reframes the deal as a competitive-will failure: the Tigers waved a white flag 2½ games out of a Wild Card race, and the Brewers — coming off an NLCS sweep by these same Dodgers — passed on the ace who could have broken that gap. With Skubal costing roughly $10 million the rest of the way, the piece argues the barrier was nerve, not payroll.
