Less than a week after acquiring Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers for the hefty sum of three prospects, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in a tailspin. What seemed at first a pitching upgrade aimed at converting the team's momentum into a cinched playoff spot has, given the perspective of four more games, turned into a desperate, last-ditch move that has totally mortgaged the team's future. Did the Dodgers ruin baseball by trading for Tarik Skubal? Here is the conclusive answer: No. Clearly Tarik Skubal ruined the Dodgers by being traded.
Worry began creeping in on Aug. 2, when the Dodgers lost the final of a three-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox. But the Red Sox simply could not stop winning at that time, and anyway, two out of the three games in the sweep took place prior to the Skubal trade. Then, on Aug. 3, starter Justin Wrobleski gave up seven runs and the Dodgers lost 10-5 to Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Chicago Cubs. But then again, the entire point of the Skubal trade was to help bolster the Dodgers' starting rotation in the partial absence of Shohei Ohtani. Anyway, as the Dodgers had already lost four games in a row twice this season alone, it was hardly uncharted territory. No judgment could be passed until Skubal made his first start.
It did not take very long. On Aug. 4, Skubal started his first game as a Dodger. Unfortunately, he allowed two runs—and, notably, two walks—and the Dodgers ultimately lost 5-1. Uh-oh. This was not boding well for the trade; the Dodgers had now lost five games in a row for the first time in the season, joining the ranks of such teams as the Kansas City Royals or the New York Mets (do not mind the other teams that were already on that list as well, as they are not relevant to this point of discussion).
On Wednesday Los Angeles reached nigh unprecedented disaster. Despite an eighth-inning rally capped off with a two-run Ohtani homer, the Dodgers were unable to stabilize and lost the final game of their series against the Cubs, 6-5. This second consecutive series sweep extended the team's losing streak to an eye-watering six, which has only happened to them twice since the start of the 2020 MLB season, even if the most recent time was in 2025. Worse, the sweep came at the hands of Crow-Armstrong, who, earlier in the season, invested in a then-inexplicable beef with Dodgers fans that is now paying off well. Not only are the Dodgers giving up literal victories now, they're also giving up moral ones, and Crow-Armstrong is the leading contender for the National League MVP award over Ohtani.
A team that was on pace toward 100 wins with the Milwaukee Brewers is now squabbling for a bye into the National League Divisional Series. If the Dodgers continue to play like this when their series starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, that streak might go up to seven, or even eight or nine! Maybe it'll even go to double digits! It is clear that the Dodgers misread their contention window, getting too high on the whispers of the masses about "threepeats" and losing sight of all their hefty flaws.
Look, Mookie Betts has an 88 OPS+. He is 33, with six years left on his contract; he still doesn't seem to have recovered from the horrific wasting disease he suffered last spring. Ohtani's bicep is no longer beefy and strong. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell remain, as they often are, injured and rehabbing. Skubal is, as previously established, completely washed. Scentless and sparkling. Not one speck of dirt on him. Former Dodgers prospect River Ryan is going to get healthy and conclusively demolish the merits of the trade.
No, it is simply impossible to see how the Dodgers will make their way out of this jam. There is only one answer here for the team: Blow it all up. Consider trading Mookie Betts; I think that's historically always worked out.
