ATLANTA — Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles at the trade deadline, Tarik Skubal watched a documentary in his downtime. Skubal, like so many others, watches shows to unwind — even if they feature recordings of Charles Manson, one of the most notorious cult leaders in history whose crimes took place in his new city.
“That was wild,” Skubal said of his latest Netflix binge.
His true crime ritual is something he clings to in a season that has hardly been routine. The miniseries are brief, and Skubal goes through them as efficiently as he does opposing lineups.
For Skubal, the routine is everything. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, he now has six days between starts instead of the traditional five. The two-time Cy Young winner is “obsessed” with his day-to-day itinerary, which helps him keep this season’s unexpected disruptions from affecting his craft.
“If I let my focus shift from that and I start worrying about what’s happening three months from now or what has already happened, it just is a distraction,” Skubal said. “That’s all it is. So I don’t really ever think like that. It does me no good to be in that headspace.”
Skubal was not expecting to be in Los Angeles this season, which began with World Series hopes with the Detroit Tigers, the only team he’d ever known. He endured the most scrutinized arbitration case in recent memory, winning a record $32 million figure — then instantly becoming the subject of trade speculation.
While the Tigers scrambled to keep their season and hopes of retaining Skubal alive, the two-time All-Star was trying to return from elbow surgery in what ended up being an unprecedented 38 days. Every start he throws now comes with the expectation of being the guy after being added to a team that has won the last two World Series. Each start brings him a step closer to what could be the richest contract ever for a pitcher.
Tarik Skubal, with catcher Ben Rortvedt, has meshed well with his teammates and tends to pepper his fellow pitchers with questions. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
That is a lot, even if Skubal does not make it seem so. Even as he returns to Detroit on Friday night, Skubal said he hasn’t given much thought to starting against his former team.
“It’s playing baseball in a place that’s obviously special to me, right?” Skubal said when he sat down with The Athletic recently. “I spent eight years there. But I’m just trying to play baseball. That’s gonna be the challenge, just to keep the game the game.”
Skubal has managed to do just that. Only one element of his life in Detroit has come with him: an espresso machine he bought for the Tigers clubhouse that has accompanied him out West.
“That was my wife (Jessica),” Skubal joked. “I wanted to leave it and get a new one, but she wouldn’t let me. My wife was like, ‘That was too expensive to just run the charge back.’”
Skubal’s first weeks as a Dodger have been engaging, as he has enmeshed himself into the ecosystem of superstars. Manager Dave Roberts heaps praise on him at every opportunity, saying at one point, “He’s built different.”
“He’s here with the Dodgers,” he said. “There’s no looking back. ‘How can I best serve the Dodgers? I had the surgery. It’s cleaned up. I’m not going to make an excuse, because I’m healthy.’
“I think his brain just works like that, and it simplified things. When a catcher calls a pitch, he doesn’t second-guess the pitch with the result, or place blame. So I admire the way he goes about life.”
Skubal found out he was traded while the Tigers were playing the Athletics in a minor-league ballpark in West Sacramento. He boarded a flight to Los Angeles the next day. When he arrived at Dodger Stadium, he entered a whole new world.
He went looking for the weight room but stumbled into the batting cages in the club’s revamped multi-story facility. Shohei Ohtani said hello. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave him a welcome. When Skubal emerged in the dugout, wearing a different shade of blue that he joked was slimming, he met his new manager. Roberts hugged him.
Still, when Skubal joined his teammates on one of their two planes bound for Chicago that evening, it felt odd.
“It didn’t feel like I was on the team yet,’’ he said.
Two days later, he emerged from the Wrigley Field dugout to boos. The chorus of Chicago Cubs fans, who were hoping their team would trade for the ace, served as a welcome to Skubal’s new reality.
“I’m walking out and being like, ‘Well, this is not the Old English D,’” Skubal said, referring to the iconic Tigers logo.
He went six innings in his club debut, allowed two runs, fought his command and ultimately settled in.
Skubal’s nomadic first weeks as a Dodger became easier. During one of his first bus rides, Miguel Rojas had a simple question for him. The veteran infielder wanted to know what they should call him.
“Skub,” Skubal said.
Rojas, in his slight Venezuelan accent, confirmed the pronunciation. “Escoob?”
“Escoob” quickly turned into “Scooby Doo Pa Pa,” a play on DJ Kass’ bumping, bass-heavy track that Rojas subsequently blasted on the speakers for the rest of the ride.
The song quickly became part of the Dodger Stadium experience, queued up each time Skubal records a strikeout. It played 11 times Sunday, when Skubal went seven innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates and recorded his first win as a Dodger. Afterward, he saw a video of his kids dancing along to the song.
“That was pretty funny,” he said.
It has been easy to integrate, Skubal said, because the situation demands it. The Dodgers are vying to become the first National League club ever to win a third consecutive World Series. While Skubal has pitched well, delivering a 3.38 ERA in 24 innings as a Dodger, the club has essentially played at a .500 level since his arrival.
The focus has to be on the day at hand, which keeps things simple. If the Dodgers are going to get where they want to go, it will likely be because of one of the best rotations ever assembled.
Skubal brings curiosity to his new environment.
“He wasn’t shy, and he wasn’t trying to step on anybody’s toes,” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “I think he was just like, ‘Hey, I’m here, let’s cannonball in and just get to know everybody.’”
So when Blake Snell returned from the injured list earlier this month, Skubal started asking questions. Skubal’s changeup has made him who he is, but he fiddled with grips and release points after watching Snell dominate with his changeup for six innings against the Kansas City Royals.
Snell is one of Skubal’s few compeers. Both have multiple Cy Young awards and regularly sit in the upper 90s as left-handed starters, so Skubal has long been fascinated with him.
“Any time he’s ever started against a team that I’m pitching against in the last three years, I’ve always watched it,” Skubal said.
He’s peppered Snell with questions about his attack plans and release points, trying to get a gauge on a pitcher he sees plenty of similarities with.
When Skubal finished throwing his bullpen session Tuesday, he hung back and watched how Yamamoto, the reigning World Series MVP, operated. Skubal said Yamamoto captivates him, from his different workout methods to his unorthodox delivery — Yamamoto takes his eyes off the target before moving down the mound — to how he sets up hitters in different quadrants.
“(I’m asking), ‘What’s your cue for this?’” Skubal said. “’When you’re throwing a slider, what are you thinking?’ You’re throwing a backdoor sinker. Like, ‘Yamamoto, what are you thinking there?’”
These are the questions that Skubal has asked throughout his first month as a Dodger, painting the picture of perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the sport who remains keenly curious about how he can get better.
Other questions aren’t as easy to answer. It is hard to be present when everyone is constantly asking what is next, but Skubal is trying to stay grounded. Could he sign an extension in Los Angeles? Not his problem right now. Can he pitch the Dodgers to a World Series? That begins with his next start in August. Everything will have its time and place, even as the noise around Skubal intensifies.
“All I can do is go out there and pitch and try to be the best version of myself on the mound,’’ Skubal said. “Whatever happens after that just doesn’t really matter to me.”
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He acknowledged that his looming free agency was a talking point before he even pitched in his first game with the Dodgers. But he quickly shut down questions about what arriving in Los Angeles could mean for his future.
“What happens tomorrow is going to happen tomorrow,” Skubal said. “What happens two months from now, or three months from now, is going to happen three months from now. I just don’t think that it’s a healthy mind space to be in, trying to make something happen in two and a half months. It’s just impossible to do, right? It’s not healthy at all.”
So Skubal adheres to what has always worked for him. All that matters is the next day. Friday, that means returning to Detroit, facing the team that helped mold him.
The routine has not changed (though he did just start the third season of the Paramount+ show “Lioness”).
Skubal had a mop of sweat when he spoke this week, fresh off throwing a few extra tosses from the bullpen mound to gauge where he was two days before the start. Skubal thought through each question from The Athletic before answering, even if each response struck a similar tone.
This upcoming start brings different questions than usual. How will it feel to be back on the mound at Comerica Park again?
“I’m sure there will be some emotion, obviously,” Skubal said. “But at the same time, the game of baseball is normal for me. That’s my normal, is playing baseball.”