Dodgers and Padres Unleash Trade Deadline Prizes for Game 1
Bob Nightengale reported the Game 1 starting assignments for both NL West contenders.
The MLB postseason is officially here, and the National League West arms race has reached its logical, terrifying conclusion. The and Los Angeles Dodgers aren't just rolling out their aces for Game 1—they are handing the ball to the guys they mortgaged the farm for at the trade deadline.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale confirmed Friday that San Diego is starting Robbie Ray for Game 1 in Milwaukee, while Los Angeles is countering with Tarik Skubal for their series opener at Dodger Stadium.
If you want to win in October, you don't just draft and develop. You wait until July, find a team realizing their season is over, and empty your prospect drawer like you're looking for spare change to buy a Ferrari. Both of these front offices looked at their rotations, decided "good enough" is a myth, and went shopping for premium velocity.
The Dodgers just finished suffocating the San Francisco Giants in a weekend sweep where they allowed exactly four total runs. Now they get to trot out Skubal to set the tone for a playoff run. Bettors looking at the Game 1 moneyline in LA are going to have to pay a massive premium to back that kind of firepower, especially with how locked in the Dodgers' pitching staff looks right now.
Meanwhile, the Padres are heading to Milwaukee after putting up 19 runs in their last two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ray gets the nod on the road against a Brewers squad that just handled the St. Louis Cardinals in their own season finale. Starting a strikeout-heavy lefty in a hostile environment is exactly the kind of chaotic energy San Diego thrives on.
This is the ultimate test of the trade deadline thesis. You don't trade for Robbie Ray or Tarik Skubal to eat innings in August against fourth-place teams. You trade for them so you don't have to sweat when the calendar flips to October and the margins completely disappear.
We'll see if the rented aces can cash the checks their front offices wrote. If they shove, the general managers look like geniuses who bought a championship. If they get chased in the third inning, sports talk radio in Southern California is going to need a federal disaster declaration.