The Los Angeles Dodgers once again struck gold, this time via the trade market.
In their quest to become the first team to win three straight World Series titles in over 25 years, the Dodgers acquired the back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, from the Detroit Tigers late Saturday night, further bolstering their already talented roster.
Skubal is slated to make his Dodgers debut on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Before making his highly anticipated debut with Los Angeles, the left-hander spoke to reporters on Monday in Chicago, speaking out against criticism of the Dodgers landing yet another superstar.
"Every team could trade for me," Skubal said. "Every team could make that acquisition. And I don't really sympathize with people that blame the Dodgers for anything they've done.
"They've developed a really good organization. They draft well, they acquire talent really well, they retain talent. It's a winning organization," Skubal said. "Now the complaints seem to be because they've won the last two World Series. I don't think it was like that three years ago. So I don't really sympathize with people that are complaining because the Dodgers do all the right things."
The Dodgers weren't the only team in on Skubal, as the Milwaukee Brewers were also reportedly trying to trade for the hard-throwing lefty who had the chance to pair up with NL Cy Young frontrunner Jacob Misiorowski. Instead, Skubal will now join a Dodgers rotation that already includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski, but remains without Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani.
Los Angeles simply added a dire need in the trade market, which was a starting pitcher and got that in Skubal for what many thought was a small return for the Tigers.
And as Skubal alluded to, you can't blame the Dodgers for making this deal when there were plenty of other teams that could've pursued him. Skubal will now spend the rest of the season helping the Dodgers go on another deep playoff run and capture a third straight title.
Skubal's highly anticipated debut is scheduled for Tuesday at 8:05 p.m. ET against the aforementioned Cubs.
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