Make California Post a Preferred Source To begin their quest for a third-straight World Series this postseason, the Dodgers will turn to the one pitcher in their rotation yet to win a championship ring.
Tarik Skubal is expected to be named the team’s starter for Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, a source with knowledge of the situation told the California Post, giving the reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner and marquee trade deadline acquisition an immediate opportunity to jump-start the club’s three-peat bid.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) smiles as he walks to the dugout after San Francisco Giants’ Shay Whitcomb struck out during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in San Francisco. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu The Dodgers, of course, had no bad options for their playoff opener.
Their rotation includes four pitchers who would be No. 1 options on most other clubs, with Skubal being joined by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow for this year’s October push.
However, Skubal is set to get the nod, as The Athletic first reported, after increasingly impressive late-season performances with the Dodgers following his blockbuster arrival from the Detroit Tigers in August.
The 29-year-old left-hander posted a 5-2 record and 2.61 ERA in 10 post-deadline starts with the club, improving upon the 7-5 mark and 2.79 ERA he had with the Tigers during a first half that was sidetracked by an elbow procedure that sidelined him for all of May.
Skubal’s best outings came in the final weeks of the regular season, when he spun a pair of scoreless seven-inning starts in two of his final three appearances of the campaign.
Prior to Friday’s news, there was a thought that Yamamoto would be the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter, given his World Series MVP heroics last fall.
But Yamamoto threw extensively in a simulated game on Wednesday, during the club’s bye week workouts. That kept him on his customary once-per-week pitching schedule (his regular-season finale came on the Wednesday before that) and might line him up to pitch in Game 3 in Atlanta next Tuesday instead. Of note: Yamamoto has notably better splits on the road (1.77 ERA) than at home (3.13 ERA) this year.
Snell, who has followed Skubal in the Dodgers’ rotation lately, seems like the logical candidate to start Game 2 on Sunday. Glasnow, who pitched in another simulated game Thursday, figures to go in Game 4, and could be an option out of the bullpen this weekend.
Tarik Skubal of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the third inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Getty Images While Skubal –– who will be the sport’s top free agent this winter –– has yet to win a World Series, he does have a sterling postseason track record.
In six playoff outings over the last two years with the Tigers, he pitched to a 2.04 ERA while striking out 56 batters in 39 ⅔ innings. Those numbers would be even better if not for his one October clunker, when he gave up five runs in a winner-take-all loss in Game 5 of the 2024 American League Division Series.
That failure has become a motivator for Skubal in the two years since. It has left him with a feeling of unfinished business as he begins another playoff campaign amid new surroundings now.
“Once the months change and the playoffs start, nothing matters,” he said last week. “It’s just about winning that game, and that’s how I treat every single start. Because I’m just trying to put our team in a position to win a baseball game. That won’t change from today, and whenever my next start is.”
