Dodgers add Tarik Skubal at deadline

The Los Angeles Dodgers finalized a trade for Tarik Skubal on Sunday, landing the two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner from the Detroit Tigers before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline. MLB.com and ESPN reported Detroit received outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith in return. The move became the headline deal of a deadline cycle that MLB.com said included dozens of trades before the cutoff. NBC Sports and MLB.com both placed Los Angeles at the top of their post-deadline power rankings after the addition. ### Which players were actually in the deal? Tarik Skubal, 29, went to Los Angeles in exchange for Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith, according to MLB.com, ESPN and NBC Sports. MLB.com said the Dodgers agreed to the trade on Saturday and announced it on Sunday. ESPN described Skubal as a pending free agent and said he would now front a rotation that was already among the league’s strongest. Detroit’s return centered on Hope, an outfielder, plus two right-handed pitchers. MLB.com’s Tigers-side coverage said the trade ended Skubal’s run in Detroit and brought back a three-player prospect package as the club moved one of the deadline’s biggest names. ### When did this happen relative to the deadline? Monday’s MLB trade deadline was 6 p.m. ET, and MLB.com’s deal tracker said dozens of moves were completed before that cutoff. The Dodgers did not wait until the final hours. MLB.com reported the agreement was reached Saturday and made official Sunday, giving Los Angeles time to slot Skubal into its rotation immediately. August 3 was the formal deadline date this year, according to MLB.com’s tracker. By Wednesday, the trade had already shifted the league’s post-deadline landscape in rankings and coverage focused on the stretch run. ### How quickly did the Dodgers put Skubal on the mound? Tuesday was Skubal’s scheduled Dodgers debut, MLB.com reported, with Los Angeles lining him up against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. That timetable underscored how quickly the club intended to use him after the trade became official. MLB.com’s Dodgers coverage said Skubal would join a team chasing another title after back-to-back championships. ESPN said the Dodgers were first in their division when they completed the trade. ### How was the move received around baseball? NBC Sports moved the Dodgers to No. 1 in its post-deadline power rankings and framed the club as having gone “all-in” with the Skubal addition. MLB.com’s own post-deadline rankings also kept Los Angeles in the top spot, saying other contenders were still chasing the Dodgers after they landed Skubal. CBS Sports, in team-by-team deadline grades cited in the source briefing, grouped the Dodgers’ Skubal move with Boston’s addition of Adley Rutschman as one of the deadline’s defining swings. ESPN called the trade one of the biggest deadline deals in recent memory. ### What does Detroit’s side of the trade look like? Detroit gave up the most prominent starter moved at the deadline, but the Tigers did not leave empty-handed. MLB.com and ESPN both identified Hope, Ryan and Smith as the return, giving the Tigers a package built around young talent rather than major league pieces. The Tigers’ decision also became part of the broader deadline churn. MLB.com’s tracker and multiple post-deadline roundups treated the Skubal trade as the market’s central move, with other contenders reacting elsewhere before the Monday evening cutoff. Wednesday’s next step is no longer the transaction itself but the standings race. MLB.com’s deadline tracker remains the central record of the completed deals, and Los Angeles has already begun using Skubal in games as August opens.