Dodgers go all in, Yankees come up short as MLB trade deadline passes
Bob Nightengale breaks down why the Dodgers won the MLB trade deadline after landing Tarik Skubal, plus other winners and losers.
Sports Pulse
It’s a three-peat until proven otherwise.
That much became apparent as Major League Baseball’s trade deadline passed and the Los Angeles Dodgers added the greatest left-handed pitcher in the game while the chief threats to their bid for a third consecutive World Series title were relegated to leftovers.
So just how does the acquisition of Tarik Skubal affect the path and probability for clubs aiming to knock off the Dodgers?
Injuries and other factors will surely affect the composition of contenders come October, but the end of the trade deadline tells us exactly the composition of an organization for the rest of the way. And with that, USA TODAY Sports ranks the top eight World Series contenders:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
It was overlooked in the haze of the deadline and Skubal’s arrival, but another lefty, Blake Snell, returned to L.A. from the rehab circuit, proclaimed his left elbow was no longer inflamed and that his shoulder, which cost him most of 2025, also felt better than ever. Consider this: Snell gave up just two earned runs over his first 21 ⅔ playoff innings last year. And pitched a crucial 1 ⅓ scoreless relief innings in World Series Game 7. Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Snell followed by any number of other arms – including, perhaps a fellow named Shohei Ohtani – will simply be suffocating. We think.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go: If an NL team is ranked No. 1 in our little exercise, an AL team would be No. 2, simply because they don’t have to go through the 1 seed to reach the finals. Alas, the AL is so bad this season that we are relegating them to the No. 4 spot in protest. And besides, the Phillies have a legitimate 1-2-3 that might be able to stare down the Dodgers: Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo. Yep, they’ll have to come out of the wild card slot probably and yep, they’ve played terribly since the All-Star break. But they have the horses and the bats – hello, Luis Arraez – to strike quickly in October. Just gotta get there, and they should.
It’s a shame their consensus No. 1-ranked farm system couldn’t be compromised to snag Skubal. Success is fleeting in this game, and historians might look back and realize there was a time the Brewers could have paired peak Jacob Misiorowski and reigning two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in the same year and didn’t make it happen. Alas. These guys proved their mettle last year, getting to the NLCS and making the Dodgers sweat before superior talent prevailed. Dustin May wasn’t the sort of rotation add we envisioned, and we’re unsure if Logan Henderson will be ready to #MeetTheMoment and if Kyle Harrison will be full go. But underestimate these cats at your risk.
Milwaukee-by-the-Gulf, if you will. The Rays had a really nice deadline, and while it would have been fantastic to add Luis Arraez to the lineups holy trinity of Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero, Liam Hicks will look awfully good behind them. If they can reboot Freddy Peralta, great, but Shane McClanahan coming back healthy would be even better. Hard to tell if this team will be predictably outgunned in October or be perfectly built for it, with a deep bullpen, excellent defense and a lineup featuring guys who can Hit The Ball.
5. Atlanta Braves
Gin and tonic. Peanut butter and jelly. Chris Sale and, uh, whom exactly?
The future Hall of Famer looks awfully lonely atop the Atlanta rotation, a dominant lefty on a team bound for 95 wins yet looking for a No. 2 to his ace status. Alas, Spencers Strider and Schwellenbach are on the IL, the club somehow whiffed on a decent dozen starting pitchers available at the deadline and Elbow Inflammation may simply suffice as the team’s epitaph. Still, it’s a seasoned group and a deadly first four in the lineup. As it stands, they’re just two games behind the Dodgers and three behind the Brewers for a first-round bye. Yet a little slippage seems likelier than chasing down those guys.
6. Boston Red Sox
They probably won’t win the division, but at some point you must take a team that wins 23 of 26 games entering the deadline seriously. Will be fascinating to see this collection of pitching under October’s glare, while the world may find out what a superstar Ceddane Rafaela has become.
Perhaps they should be ranked much higher on the strength of the pitching staff, which is quietly leads the majors in ERA (3.32) and is tied for fewest homers given up in the AL despite its right field porch at home. Unless and until Aaron Judge gets the green light to come back from his rib injury, this has the feel of a surprise team hoping to run into some good fortune. And perhaps that stance will look good on the Yankees in October.
8. Chicago Cubs
Yes, that was Jed Hoyer’s Cubs at the deadline, adding starters Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes and relief help to a club that can practically book the No. 1 wild card slot. Pete Crow-Armstrong is getting better, rather than regressing, in this second half; can he keep it going through October? Getting back some of the 14 pitchers on the IL would help, too.