Dodgers' Updated Pitching Rotation, Payroll After Tarik Skubal Blockbuster Trade with Tigers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of a third straight World Series title.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Saturday night they're acquiring ace Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers for three minor league prospects: pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith and outfielder Zyhir Hope.

A three-man starting rotation is the norm in the MLB playoffs, but L.A. could plausibly go five- or even six-deep in October. Here's who could be available to manager Dave Roberts if everyone is healthy come postseason time:

Dodgers Starting Rotation

• Tarik Skubal
• Shohei Ohtani
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto
• Emmet Sheehan
• Justin Wrobleski
• Tyler Glasnow
• Blake Snell
• Roki Sasaki

The Dodgers are on the hook for $9.5 million in terms of Skubal's prorated salary. The overall cost will be much higher with the team soaring past the luxury tax.

Toward the end of the 2025 World Series, the Dodgers' pitching staff was running on fumes. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw the final 2.2 innings of Game 7, a day removed from starting Game 6, because Roberts didn't have any better options.

Within that context, it's not hard to see why L.A. wanted Skubal despite having plenty of depth already.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal posited that the Dodgers viewed their staff as perhaps "the strongest of this dominant era."

"The addition of Skubal further safeguards them, at a time when Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are working their way back from injuries and Justin Wrobleski has already surpassed his career-high in innings," he wrote. "The Dodgers have so many options, in their bullpen as well, that it's difficult to imagine their staff crumbling."

Shohei Ohtani is a wild card as well.

The four-time MVP hasn't pitched since July 3 thanks to a right biceps issue, and it's unclear when he'll be back on the mound. As great as it would be to see Ohtani be a two-way player in the playoffs, Skubal's arrival may lessen the likelihood of that happening.

If Los Angeles does reinsert the right-hander into the rotation, the group becomes even more formidable.