When the Dodgers open their wallet, it’s rarely for pocket change—and never without purpose. They’ve already handed $182 million to a lefty with questions, so imagine what they’d pay for one with answers. Enter Tarik Skubal, the Cy Young winner with Phoenix roots, a bulldog mentality, and an ERA that makes accountants nervous. L.A. doesn’t chase hope. They chase dominance, and Skubal smells like October.

Los Angeles is one of those teams in MLB right now that can just solve any problem through money. Yes, it will cost them, but the art of their differing salaries has played out brilliantly. And now another problem has popped up in the form of injuries, and it has taken out some of the best pitchers from the rotation. One of them is Blake Snell, and he might be the key to getting Skubal.

In a recent article on the Detroit Free Press, Evan Petzold discussed Skubal and his future after the 2026 season. That is when he wrote, “Skubal has praised the Dodgers before, when he was asked about the free-agent market in February 2025: ‘You see with the Dodgers, right?… You want to win, and then you want to get paid for your services. That’s the goal in baseball.'”

Skubal isn’t just dominating—he’s rewriting pitching standards with surgical precision and relentless poise. His 2.23 ERA, 153 strikeouts, and 16 walks over 121 innings scream Cy Young encore. Since July 2023, he has a 2.43 ERA, best among qualified MLB pitchers in that stretch. For a league obsessed with velocity and spin, Skubal delivers the rare combination: power, control, and postseason temperament.

The Dodgers don’t collect talent—they harvest trophies, and their roster is built like Cooperstown’s lobby. From Betts to Ohtani, they target stars with résumés, not résumés in progress. Snell’s $182 million arm is stuck in neutral, derailed by injuries and unreliable availability. For a franchise allergic to excuses, replacing dead weight with dominance feels inevitable—and deeply on-brand.

When the rotation breaks, the Dodgers don’t rebuild—they reload with gold-plated reinforcements. Snell’s injuries might’ve cracked the door, but Skubal could blow it off its hinges. If L.A. wants postseason certainty, they won’t wait for bounce-backs—they’ll buy a bulldog with a Cy Young and a calculator-breaking WAR. Detroit may hold the contract, but the Dodgers hold the playbook. And they rarely miss when the stakes are sky-high.

Before next season, the Dodgers need to solve this season’s problems

Championship hangovers don’t last this long—unless the bullpen’s still puking. The Dodgers may have paraded trophies in 2024, but 2025 has been a masterclass in late-inning chaos. Names like Blake Treinen, Tanner Scott, and Evan Phillips were supposed to lock doors, not leave them swinging. And until L.A. patches that mess, dreaming about Skubal in Dodger blue feels more like denial than deadline strategy.

The Dodgers built their bullpen with $107 million and postseason dreams, but results scream regular-season disaster. Scott owns a league-worst seven blown saves, while the pen’s ERA balloons to 4.38. Injuries to Treinen, Michael Kopech, and Phillips turned high-leverage innings into nightly nightmares. Once a fortress, the bullpen now feels like a turnstile with a ticket to heartbreak.

Enter Jhoan Duran and Félix Bautista, the flamethrowers L.A. is circling before July 31. Duran boasts a 1.66 ERA with 11 strikeouts per nine, chewing hitters with velocity and command. Bautista, fresh off Tommy John rehab, still racks up saves with a wipeout fastball-slider combo. Both come with team control through 2027, offering dominance now and insurance later.

Internally, Alexis Díaz could get the call, a former All-Star already in the Dodgers’ system. His upper-90s heat and past closer experience provide a no-cost, low-risk bullpen upgrade. Adding Duran or Bautista gives L.A. a late-inning anchor and stabilizes a crumbling bridge to October. The Dodgers don’t need just arms—they need adrenaline, and these three bring gallons.

The Los Angeles Dodgers can’t chase October glory with a bullpen that folds faster than a beach chair in Malibu. Spending big is one thing—spending wisely is how you win rings, not blow saves. If L.A. wants Skubal headlines to matter in October, the bullpen can’t be the footnote. Fix the leaks now, or start shopping for excuses next spring. Parades aren’t built on potential—they’re built on clean ninth innings.