The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to complete a three-peat and may not plan on leaving anything up to chance.
Untimely injuries and players slumping could be the only things that stand in the way of the Dodgers and a third consecutive championship. However, they are not the type of team to sit around and hope those things don't happen. They are expected to be aggressive at the trade deadline, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
"Well, rival executives believe the Dodgers plan to be greedy, and are infatuated with the opportunity of becoming the first National League team to win three consecutive World Series championships," wrote Nightengale. "If Tarik Skubal indeed becomes available, as executives are now predicting, the Dodgers are all in, and have the prized farm system and starting pitching depth to pull it off. They have nine players in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 List."
With whispers of a lockout and a salary cap, it seems like the Dodgers are ready to go out with a bang if the league caps their spending. Skubal is the reigning, back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner and would join a rotation that already features Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
The Dodgers also have Eric Lauer and Justin Wrobleski, who are pitching well. Roki Sasaki looked great in his last start and could also be a huge factor down the line. However, adding Skubal would give the Dodgers arguably the best pitcher in baseball.
Then, if there is no salary cap, they would have the inside track to keep him as well. If they give him a taste of a championship and offer him one of their famous deferred deals, he may end up sticking in Los Angeles for the long run.