Dodgers stock up for three-peat quest with Tarik Skubal stunner in yet another spalsh

The Dodgers did it again.

Even in a year in which they didn’t have any big trade deadline needs, and signaled a willingness to make only marginal midseason moves in pursuit of a third consecutive World Series title, the two-time defending champions went out and made the biggest splash of the deadline season anyway.

Two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, welcome to Los Angeles.

In a blockbuster deal with the Tigers on Saturday, the Dodgers acquired Skubal, according to multiple sources and as the Post’s Jon Heyman first reported, in exchange for a trio of prospects: outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-handed pitcher River Ryan and right-handed pitcher Brady Smith.

Just like that, the Dodgers will add yet another superstar talent to their world-beating roster.

Now, an already probable World Series in 2026 feels that much more inevitable.

The Dodgers, of course, didn’t need Skubal before MLB’s Monday trade deadline, not after expressing confidence in recent weeks that their already talented, but currently banged-up, starting rotation would be healthy come the stretch run of the season.

On the other hand, the Dodgers don’t sit out sweepstakes for “needle-moving” players.

And for this year’s deadline, no one moved the needle for their championship odds more than Skubal — who will be a free agent after this season but has also been arguably the best pitcher in the sport over the last three years.

A 29-year-old left-hander from Northern California, Skubal long ago emerged as the best player likely to be moved at the deadline.

The Tigers considered trading him this offseason, as it became clear he would likely end up somewhere else as a potential record-setting free agent this winter.

However, they held onto him then in hopes of competing again in 2026, following back-to-back postseason trips spearheaded by his back-to-back Cy Young campaigns.

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Instead, the Tigers’ season went off the rails quickly, with the club going 22-38 through the end of May. Skubal was out for much of that stretch, after undergoing a procedure to have a loose body removed from his elbow on May 6.

A brief uptick in form — the Tigers went 28-16 from June 1 to July 24 — was followed by another poorly timed skid this past week, cementing the Tigers’ status as a seller ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.

Thus, Skubal became the top target on the market, thanks to another strong season in which he is 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA this year (including a 2.87 mark since coming off the injured list).

And the Dodgers, as the rest of the industry suspected all along, were ready to pounce; their proclamations about having no “acute needs” at this deadline be damned.

The Dodgers will send back three prospects in their trade package, which is headlined by Hope –– the No. 4 ranked player in their pipeline, according to Baseball America, and No. 55 overall prospect in the sport.

A 21-year-old former 11th-round draft pick whom the Dodgers acquired from the Cubs before the 2024 season, Hope has impressed over his minor-league career with a .281 average, 48 home runs and .862 OPS. 

However, in what will be seen as a win within the Dodgers’ front office, he is behind three other outfielders in the club’s farm system: Josue De Paula (the No. 4 prospect in the sport), Mike Sirota (No. 14) and Eduardo Quintero (No. 18).

The Dodgers managed to keep all of them.

Another surprise in the final deal: Neither Justin Wrobleski nor Emmet Sheehan, two current members of the Dodgers’ MLB rotation, was required to complete the trade.

Instead, the Dodgers are sending back Ryan, who is a hard-throwing right-hander with a deep pitch mix, but has made just four MLB appearances as he closes in on his 28th birthday because of repeated injuries (including Tommy John surgery in 2024, and an ongoing hamstring issue this year that has currently sidelined him in triple-A); and Smith, a raw 21-year-old right-hander in high-A whom the club drafted in the third round in 2023, but who also has a 4.72 ERA in his minor-league career.

Per Baseball America, Ryan was the team’s No. 13 prospect, while Smith was outside the Top 30.

That means, Skubal will now join a Dodgers starting pitching group that –– when fully healthy –– also features a reigning World Series MVP in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a fellow two-time Cy Young Award winner in Blake Snell, a former All-Star in Tyler Glasnow, a current All-Star in Wrobleski, a gifted (albeit recently struggling) right-hander in Sheehan, a 24-year-old phenom in Roki Sasaki … and, oh yeah, four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani.

Rarely, if ever, in the history of baseball has so much talent been amassed on one staff.

The health of that unit still is a big if, of course.

Snell has almost completed a rehab assignment after undergoing his own elbow procedure earlier this year to remove bone chips. Glasnow is set to begin a rehab stint next week as he works his way back from a back spasms issue. And Ohtani has not made a pitching start in nearly a month because of an ongoing knee issue, which has not prevented him from hitting but has kept him shut down from throwing for more than a week.

The Dodgers had expressed confidence in getting each of them back for the stretch run of the season. But their current absences had added uncertainty to their postseason pitching plans.

Not anymore.

Now, the team boasts the ultimate insurance policy, bringing aboard another bona fide supertsar in Skubal who, over the last three seasons, ranks second in the majors in ERA (2.40), third in strikeout rate (31.2%), third in batting average against (.201), fifth in innings pitched (484, even with the time he missed this year), and first in Fangraphs’ version of WAR (15.5).

All along, the industry figured the Dodgers would lead the race to land him.

And once he became available, they didn’t miss the mark –– again.