ATLANTA — Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles at the trade deadline, Tarik Skubal watched a documentary in his downtime. Skubal, like so many others, watches shows to unwind — even if they feature recordings of Charles Manson, one of the most notorious cult leaders in history whose crimes took place in his new city.“That was wild,” Skubal said of his latest Netflix binge.His true crime ritual is something he clings to in a season that has hardly been routine. The miniseries are brief, and Skubal goes through them as efficiently as he does opposing lineups.For Skubal, the routine is everything. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, he now has six days between starts instead of the traditional five. The two-time Cy Young winner is “obsessed” with his day-to-day itinerary, which helps him keep this season’s unexpected disruptions from affecting his craft.“If I let my focus shift from that and I start worrying about what’s happening three months from now or what has already happened, it just is a distraction,” Skubal said. “That’s all it is. So I don’t really ever think like that. It does me no good to be in that headspace.”Skubal was not expecting to be in Los Angeles this season, which began with World Series hopes with the Detroit Tigers, the only team he’d ever known. He endured the most scrutinized arbitration case in recent memory, winning a record $32 million figure — then instantly becoming the subject of trade speculation.While the Tigers scrambled to keep their season and hopes of retaining Skubal alive, the two-time All-Star was trying to return from elbow surgery in what ended up being an unprecedented 38 days. Every start he throws now comes with the expectation of being the guy after being added to a team that has won the last two World Series. Each start brings him a step closer to what could be the richest contract ever for a pitcher.Tarik Skubal, with catcher Ben Rortvedt, has meshed well with his teammates and tends to pepper his fellow pitchers with questions. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)That is a lot, even if Skubal does not make it seem so. Even as he returns to Detroit on Friday night, Skubal said he hasn’t given much thought to starting against his former team.“It’s playing baseball in a place that’s obviously special to me, right?” Skubal said when he sat down with The Athletic recently. “I spent eight years there. But I’m just trying to play baseball. That’s gonna be the challenge, just to keep the game the game.”Skubal has managed to do just that. Only one element of his life in Detroit has come with him: an espresso machine he bought for the Tigers clubhouse that has accompanied him out West.“That was my wife (Jessica),” Skubal joked. “I wanted to leave it and get a new one, but she wouldn’t let me. My wife was like, ‘That was too expensive to just run the charge back.’”Skubal’s first weeks as a Dodger have been engaging, as he has enmeshed himself into the ecosystem of superstars. Manager Dave Roberts heaps praise on him at every opportunity, saying at one point, “He’s built different.”“He’s here with the Dodgers,” he said. “There’s no looking back. ‘How can I best serve the Dodgers? I had the surgery. It’s cleaned up. I’m not going to make an excuse, because I’m healthy.’“I think his brain just works like that, and it simplified things. When a catcher calls a pitch, he doesn’t second-guess the pitch with the result, or place blame. So I admire the way he goes about life.”