RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesAug 3, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman (25) celebrates with designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) and center fielder Andy Pages (44) after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field.
CHICAGO — According to much of the baseball world, the season ended Saturday night.
That's when the Dodgers officially acquired back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, prompting another round of declarations that baseball is broken, competitive balance is dead and the World Series trophy might as well be shipped to Chavez Ravine.
The hot takes started Friday when the rumors intensified, grew louder after the trade became official Saturday and reached full volume Monday as Skubal met the media before what will be his Dodgers debut Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.
Everyone has been busy crowning the Dodgers.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, haven't won a game.
Since Friday night, they've lost four straight. Monday's 10-5 loss to the Cubs was their sixth defeat in eight games, an oddly fitting reminder that baseball has never cared what a roster looks like on paper.
"We haven't won a game since he's been here, but it's not his doing," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts joked after the loss. "We just need to win a game."
Exactly.
That's baseball.
The Dodgers might have assembled the most talented roster of this generation. Their rotation, once healthy, could rival anything we've seen since those dominant Braves staffs of the 1990s. They have MVPs, Cy Young winners, All-Stars and now perhaps the best pitcher in baseball wearing Dodger blue.
They should be the World Series favorites.
But people are acting as though they've become unbeatable.
History says otherwise.
Go back just two Octobers.
In 2024, the Padres had the Dodgers on the brink of elimination in the National League Division Series. Los Angeles needed consecutive elimination-game victories just to survive. One of those games was started by a bullpen because the Dodgers had run out of healthy starters. They somehow shut out San Diego twice and eventually won the World Series.
Last October wasn't much easier.
The Blue Jays led the World Series three games to one and returned home needing one victory in two games to capture the championship. Toronto came within two outs in Game 7 before Miguel Rojas stunned Rogers Centre with a game-tying homer. Will Smith delivered the winning home run two innings later. Toronto fans are still talking about having the bases loaded in the ninth inning and being literally an inch from a championship before Isiah Kiner-Falefa's base-running error and Rojas' throw to Smith at the plate became the lasting image of a series that could have gone either way.
The Dodgers won.
But they weren't invincible.
Even in 2020, when they finally ended their championship drought, they had to erase a 3-1 deficit against Atlanta in the National League Championship Series. The Braves had three opportunities to eliminate them.
They failed.
The Dodgers survived.
There's a difference.
That's why all this talk about the season being over misses the point.
The Skubal trade doesn't guarantee another parade.
It gives the Dodgers a better chance to survive the moments that every championship team eventually faces.
Because those moments are coming.
At some point this October they'll probably trail in a series.
They'll probably lose consecutive games.
They may have to win an elimination game on the road.
They may once again find themselves with their backs against the wall wondering if the season is about to end.
That's not pessimism.
That's baseball.
This is still a team waiting for Shohei Ohtani to return to a full workload as a starting pitcher. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow remain sidelined. Will Smith and Dalton Rushing are both injured. Mookie Betts hasn't looked like himself for much of the summer. Kyle Tucker is still searching for the consistency everyone expected after he arrived. Even breakout All-Star Justin Wrobleski has looked more vulnerable since the break.
For all the outrage surrounding the Skubal trade, the reality is the Dodgers almost had to make it.
Not because they were unbeatable.
Because they aren't.
Championship windows don't stay open forever. Injuries happen. Slumps happen. October has a way of humbling even the deepest rosters.
The Dodgers didn't trade for Skubal because they think they're invincible.
They traded for him because they know exactly how fragile a championship really is.
Nobody understands that better than a team that has won the last two World Series.
Because despite the rings, despite the stars and despite the payroll, they know something everyone else seems to have forgotten this week.
In October, nothing is guaranteed. That's precisely what makes winning the World Series so hard and why no team has won three straight in a quarter of a century.
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