Dodgers emerge as frontrunners in Tarik Skubal trade chase

The Dodgers have emerged as the frontrunners in the Tarik Skubal trade chase, with the Yankees also talking seriously with the Tigers as Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline approaches. Detroit is weighing whether to move a 6-foot-3, 240-pound left-hander who has already won back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards and captured the 2024 Triple Crown. The price of even listening includes Skubal’s $32 million arbitration salary in 2026.

Skubal, 29, was unanimously selected for the 2024 AL Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America after going 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 31 appearances. MLB.com said he repeated as the AL Cy Young winner in 2025, leaving him with a combined 31-10 record, 2.30 ERA and 469 strikeouts in 62 appearances across the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That production has made him the biggest prize on the market and one of the defining names in the deadline race.

Detroit drafted Skubal in the ninth round in 2018 out of Seattle University, and the Tigers now face the most delicate calculation in their deadline picture: sell at the peak of his value or keep the ace who has become the face of the rotation. ESPN reported that Skubal won his arbitration case against the Tigers and will earn $32 million in 2026, a figure that signals both his leverage and the kind of return Detroit would demand. This is not a routine rental deal for a short-term arm; it is the kind of transaction that would require a franchise-changing package.

The market around Skubal has already widened beyond Los Angeles and New York. MLB.com listed the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Padres, Phillies, Rays and Brewers as potential suitors, and Jon Heyman named the Cubs, Dodgers, Padres, Phillies, Rays and Brewers on MLB Network as well. The Dodgers’ emergence as the front-runner changes the leverage for every contender still looking for frontline pitching, because Los Angeles has the ability to reset the conversation on what a premium starter costs.

For Detroit, dealing Skubal would mean parting with a homegrown ace who was born in Hayward, California, on Nov. 20, 1996, and has risen from a ninth-round pick to the top of the sport. For the Dodgers, landing him would turn an already elite October roster into an even starker test of baseball’s competitive balance, as the chase for one pitcher starts to define the market for everyone else.