The Los Angeles Dodgers went all-in on their pursuit of a third straight World Series title, acquiring Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline. This move is one MLB fans assumed would all but guarantee Los Angeles its three-peat, and while sure, the Dodgers are obviously better with Skubal than without, another World Series title is far from a guarantee.
Look no further than Skubal's starts, in particular. The Dodgers continue to let him down where it matters most - scoring runs. Without runs, you cannot win baseball games, no matter how well Skubal pitches.
Vintage Tarik Skubal cannot win the Dodgers a World Series on his own
Skubal delivered his best start as a Dodger on Sunday, allowing one earned run in six innings against a Milwaukee Brewers team with the best record in the sport. Yet, when Skubal departed, the Dodgers were trailing 2-1. By the end of the day, they had lost 6-2, dropping three of four to Milwaukee at home.
Bad offensive games can happen to even the best teams, but this has been an issue in two of Skubal's three starts as a Dodger. They were able to score enough to win Skubal's home debut, but they lost 5-1 in Skubal's first start with Los Angeles, despite the southpaw allowing just two runs in six innings of work. He's pitched to a rock-solid 3.18 ERA in three starts as a Dodger, yet Los Angeles is just 1-2 in his outings.
Skubal delivering quality starts hasn't been enough for this Dodgers team to win games because of their offense. They haven't been scoring for him, and frankly, they haven't been scoring enough for any of their pitchers of late.
Dodgers offensive struggles are getting concerning
The Dodgers managed to score just 10 runs in their four-game set against Milwaukee. They scored only 25 runs in their seven-game homestand, averaging just 3.5 runs per game. For reference, the Seattle Mariners, owners of MLB's worst offense this season, average 3.9 runs per game. A seven-game sample might be small, but their offensive dry spell has gone on for quite a while.
The Dodgers have scored just 50 runs in August, good for 25th in the majors. As if that isn't bad enough, their 155 runs scored since July 1 rank 23rd in the majors. It's been nearly two months of the powerful Dodgers performing like one of the 10 worst offenses in the sport. Sure, they can come alive in October, but what, given how this season has gone, suggests that they will?
Player | 2026 OPS | Career OPS |
|---|---|---|
Mookie Betts | .699 | .871 |
Kyle Tucker | .700 | .833 |
Teoscar Hernandez | .710 | .793 |
Will Smith | .720 | .826 |
The Dodgers' lineup is littered with All-Stars, but many of them are underperforming. Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker, in particular, are having the worst years of their careers. Teoscar Hernandez has been completely ineffective against right-handed pitching. Will Smith has been injured and has greatly underperformed when healthy. Andy Pages got off to a red-hot start, but has a middling .723 OPS since June 1. Even Freddie Freeman hasn't been quite as potent offensively as he had been in the past. Most of these guys are older. They might simply be regressing.
There's reason to believe the Dodgers will turn it on when it matters most - they've done that time and time again - but there's reason for concern. Skubal and the rest of the Dodgers' absurd rotation can dominate, but at the end of the day, limiting runs is only half the battle. If the Dodgers can't score, they can't win. As their 18-20 record since July 1 would indicate, they are having trouble winning games even with good starting pitching.
Skubal going from an undermanned Tigers team relative to this Dodgers powerhouse, to Los Angeles, only to get this run support, is not the result he, or anyone, expected.
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