When Cubs manager Craig Counsell found out the Dodgers were getting Tarik Skubal from the Tigers, his reaction was quite measured.
“I was half-asleep and fell asleep five minutes later,” Counsell said Sunday morning before the Cubs lost 2-1 to the Yankees.
Counsell might not have been alarmed enough to interrupt his night’s slumber, but Los Angeles grabbing another prized asset makes the task ahead tougher for the Cubs.
No matter what, it was going to be difficult for the Cubs to win the 2026 World Series. The National League is loaded, the journey through three or four playoff rounds is filled with traps and variance and the Cubs’ starting rotation has been hit with multiple injuries.
And even if Jed Hoyer and the Cubs get a starter or two before Monday’s trade deadline, they won’t match what the Dodgers did. By snagging Skubal, Los Angeles fortified itself for a run at a third straight championship by importing a lefthander who led the American League in both ERA-plus and fielding independent pitching in 2024 and 2025. The Dodgers also made sure a horde of challengers interested in Skubal – reportedly including the Cubs – wouldn’t add the most coveted arm available.
Though nothing is guaranteed in the playoffs, there’s a good chance any team that wants to represent the NL in the World Series will have to beat the Dodgers. Already a steep climb, that’s become more challenging after the Dodgers added another superstar to the mega-team that already had Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and plenty more.
The Cubs are getting a look at that this week at Wrigley Field, including Skubal’s Dodgers debut Tuesday. But an early-August series isn’t the same as having to get past that group in the postseason.
“If you’re going to win a World Series and accomplish the things that we want to, you’re going to have to beat good players and good teams no matter what,” second baseman Nico Hoerner told the Sun-Times. [The Dodgers trading for Skubal] doesn’t change too much on our end as far as what we can control.”
Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said he didn’t have a reaction to the Skubal news. The trade, Crow-Armstrong said, had nothing to do with him.
“It will be fun to face him [Tuesday],” Crow-Armstrong said. “I haven’t gotten to face him since last year. A big fan of his as a person and as a competitor as well. So, I mean, cool.”
Hoerner and Crow-Armstrong’s reactions aren’t surprising. Competitors at the big-league level will say they’re concerned only about their own teams, not the actions of other franchises.
Yet the facts are there: the best team adding maybe the best pitcher in the world will not make it easier for anybody to beat the Dodgers. That includes the Cubs, who should be getting some help.
“There’s been so much criticism on the pitching staff, who’s really managed to throw a lot of really good games for us. There was a lot of criticism when we weren’t really putting up runs and we weren’t really winning games,” Crow-Armstrong said. “We’ve still put ourselves in a position to go get some pieces that would only end up helping this squad. We’re already in really good shape in terms of who we have and the type of people that we have, the type of competitors.
“Any addition would be that. It would be great,” Crow-Armstrong continued. “We’ll see what happens, but we’ve still got to go play ball, so whatever happens, happens.”
Eventually, that could mean Skubal and the Dodgers standing in the Cubs’ October path.