The texts and notifications started immediately after the Tarik Skubal trade broke. What does this mean? A guaranteed three-peat for the Dodgers? How can they get away with this?
And I gently responded: Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter.
This reaction surprised them. “It’s not a big deal that the Dodgers got the reigning Cy Young winner? Do tell.”
It was hard not to be a little paternal here, but I clarified: Nothing matters. Nothing at all. We were born of stardust, and to stardust we shall return. Then I walked into the ocean with all of my clothes on, hoping to find purchase with the sea turtles.
In baseball terms, though, yes, it is probably a big deal. The Dodgers moved from being the World Series favorites to being the No Foolin’ World Series favorites. Skubal might be the best pitcher in the world, and he joins the unquestioned best team in the world. Seems ominous.
Except you had to have been expecting this for months, if not years, right? As soon as Skubal had surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow earlier this season, the odds of him going to the Dodgers after the season increased roughly 5000 percent. If there’s any team that’s capable of giving him a one-year deal for $75 million (and a player option for $75 million for 2028), it’s the Dodgers. If Skubal had any long-term health concerns, he was always going to the Dodgers after the season.
On May 26, our own Cody Stavenhagen published an article detailing Skubal’s near-miraculous recovery and suggesting that he was likely to return at full strength, and a lot sooner than expected. On May 31, the Tigers lost, dropping their record to 22-38.
If you weren’t already making peace with Skubal on the Dodgers by then, that’s on you. There wasn’t a single impediment. They had the prospects. The fit was perfect. And they’d even get a months-long exclusive negotiating window before free agency as a li’l perk.
Now Skubal is on the Dodgers. In other news, water is wet, and rosin bags are poofy. That’s how you can feel better about this: by not feeling anything at all. You should have made peace with the idea in May, if not earlier.
It’s not ideal, but if you’re a fan with a rooting interest against the Dodgers, and you have to root for something, root for a generational lefty to get pummeled in the postseason. It’s happened before, and maybe Clayton Kershaw wasn’t the last of his kind, after all. It’s not likely, and this is definitely nothing but grass-fed, grain-finished cope, but the postseason being unpredictable is all you got. It’s not like you can use logic to feel better. The Dodgers just got Tarik Skubal. Holy cats.
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