LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tarik Skubal was the one player the Los Angeles Dodgers believed worthy of aggressively pursuing ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.By landing the reigning two-time American League Cy Young winner with time to spare and without sacrificing their pursuit of a third straight World Series title, they reinforced their status as both baseball’s dominant power and public enemy No. 1.“It just seems like there’s always blowback with us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “People are passionate. We feel good about it. There’s nothing that we did that no one else couldn’t have done.”In the near term, Skubal’s arrival gives the Dodgers another powerful arm to an already loaded rotation responsible for the lowest WHIP and batting average in the majors. He is scheduled to make his debut on Tuesday at the Chicago Cubs, having gone 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings over 16 starts for the Detroit Tigers this season.
“We got better,” reliever Edwin Díaz said “We got, like I said, one of the best pitchers in the league, and now we have him as a teammate, so that’s a really good plus for us.”Having Skubal can allow the Dodgers to be cautious with Shohei Ohtani as he recovers from left knee soreness and a right biceps injury that have kept the two-way superstar from pitching since July 3. Ohtani will resume playing catch sometime during the three-game series against the Cubs, Roberts said, and the Dodgers remain optimistic he will be able to return to the mound this season.
