A reigning two-time Cy Young winner is on the move.
The Detroit Tigers on Saturday traded star pitcher Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to multiple reports.
“I’m excited to be a Dodger,” Skubal told reporters after the Tigers’ game on Saturday night. “I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys and chase three championships in a row. That’s hard to do, so I’m so excited to a part of that. But it’s a lot of different emotions. Definitely kind of a roller coaster a little bit.”
Skubal, 29, was widely seen as the best player available ahead of the trade deadline. If the Tigers didn’t trade him, they would’ve faced the prospect of losing him in free agency this winter for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick. Instead, they pick up the Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect (outfielder Zyhir Hope), No. 7 prospect (pitcher River Ryan) and No. 17 prospect (pitcher Brady Smith), via MLB Pipeline.
Skubal is 7-5 this season with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. He is 61-42 with a 3.04 ERA over seven seasons, all with Detroit. In two postseasons, Skubal is 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts.
Drafted by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 draft, Skubal made his debut in 2020 and never looked back.
The left-handed pitcher from Hayward, Calif., made Detroit’s starting rotation the following season in a decision by manager A.J. Hinch, who was then just recently hired.
Skubal’s dominance on the mound took off in 2024, when he was named an All-Star to go with the season’s AL Cy Young award and pitching Triple Crown, among other accolades.
Skubal maintained his form in 2025, repeating as the AL Cy Young winner to go with another All-Star nod. He posted a 2.21 ERA that season, the lowest of his career thus far.
The Tigers also made the postseason in each campaign, but fell in the ALDS both times. The first run was a 3-2 series loss to the Cleveland Guardians. Detroit then eliminated Cleveland in the 2025 Wild Card round but lost 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners.
Skubal is now the latest star to join a Dodgers roster that already has big-name players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts. If everyone is healthy, he could be part of a rotation with reigning World Series MVP Yamamoto, fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow.
The Dodgers are in first place in the NL West and were already the favorites to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
