Oh No: Dodgers In Unrecoverable Tailspin After Sixth Straight Loss

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).