LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his Dodger debut Tuesday, facing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, pledging to “give this organization and city everything that I’ve got.”
“The entire focus of this organization is on winning championships, and that’s my entire focus of playing baseball,” Skubal told reporters Monday in Chicago. “I’m just going to try and show up and kind of be a chameleon in a sense and fit right into these guys and just gel with them.”
Skubal said he’s “just excited to take it all in, the day-to-day routine stuff.”
“I’ll be watching a lot of guys and people probably think I’m a little weird staring at guys, but it’s just because I’m trying to learn and get better,” Skubal said.
Dodgers announced Sunday they had acquired Skubal from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for three minor leaguers, bolstering their chances for a third consecutive World Series championship.
Skubal joins fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell on a pitching staff that also includes three other All-Star Game selections — Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
Glasnow and Snell are both on the injured list but expected to resume play this month. Ohtani hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of left knee inflammation and right biceps discomfort. It is unclear when he will pitch again.
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani would probably start playing catch during the Dodgers’ three-game series at Wrigley Field that concludes Wednesday.
“We’re still planning on getting Shohei built up,” Roberts said Sunday. “We have a plan to build him up slowly, methodically, and that would have happened if this trade would have would have happened or not.”
In exchange for the 29-year-old left-hander, who will be a free agent after this season but is likely to re-sign with the Dodgers, the team sent outfielder Zyhir Hope and pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith to Detroit.
The trade came on the eve of the trading deadline.
Skubal was selected by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 2018 draft out of the University of Seattle and made his major league debut in 2020. After going 16-24 over his first three seasons, Skubal began coming into his own in 2023.
Skubal didn’t pitch in the majors in 2023 until July 4 as he completed recovery from flexor tendon surgery in August 2022. He was 7-3 in 2023, winning his final four decisions, with a 2.80 ERA, including a 0.90 ERA over his final five starts. Skubal was selected as American League pitcher of the month for September 2023, the only time he has won the award.
Skubal won the first of his two American League Cy Young Awards in 2024, when he won the pitching triple crown for leading the league with 18 victories, 228 strikeouts and a 2.39 ERA. He also won the award in 2025 when he lead the league with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts.
Skubal is 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 96 innings in 2026. He is 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA in three career starts against the Cubs.
The 5:05 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time game will be televised by SportsNet LA.
“Watching Tarik Skubal pitch in the playoffs last year was must-see TV,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Sunday. Skubal was 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in three postseason starts in 2025, holding opposing batters to a .143 average with 36 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.
“I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there,”‘ Friedman said. “I can’t wait to see it in Dodger Blue.”
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