The Dodgers are better, but not unbeatable
Everyone is crowning the Dodgers after the Skubal trade but they've lost four straight. Arash Markazi reports from Chicago on why the deal was made from a position of vulnerability, not invincibility.
Good morning! The baseball world declared the season over on Saturday. The Dodgers haven’t won since. Los Angeles dropped a 10-5 decision to the Cubs on Monday — its fourth straight loss and sixth in eight games — on the eve of Tarik Skubal’s Dodger debut. Down south, the Padres bought big at the deadline and then went quiet in Phoenix. In Las Vegas, the Aces answered a bad loss with a statement, and training camps got physical in Los Angeles and Henderson. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
⚾ Reality check at Wrigley. The Dodgers have lost four in a row since acquiring Skubal — Arash Markazi in Chicago.
⚾ Debut night. Skubal takes the mound Tuesday as Los Angeles finalizes its post-deadline roster — Arash Markazi at Wrigley Field.
⚾ Preller strikes twice. The Padres landed Robbie Ray from the Giants and Casey Mize from the Tigers, then lost 5-1 in Phoenix — Brady Charette at Chase Field.
🏀 Answer delivered. Jackie Young’s triple-double keyed a 109-87 Aces rout of the Dream — Derek Hegna at State Farm Arena.
⚾ New era in Anaheim. A firesale deadline resets the Angels — Jack Janes on what comes next.
🏈 Cousins responds. The Raiders QB answered criticism of sluggish practice footage with full-speed sprints Sunday — Muhammed Asif in Las Vegas.
🏈 The real camp story. Why the Rams’ backups matter more than the starters right now — Eric Lambkins II at Loyola Marymount.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — MONDAY
⚾ MLB: Cubs 10, Dodgers 5 · Diamondbacks 5, Padres 1
🏀 WNBA: Aces 109, Dream 87
⚾ THE DODGERS AREN’T INVINCIBLE — AND THEY KNOW IT
According to much of the baseball world, the season ended Saturday night when the Dodgers acquired back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. The hot takes started Friday, grew louder Saturday and hit full volume Monday as Skubal met the media at Wrigley Field. Everyone has been busy crowning the Dodgers. The Dodgers, meanwhile, haven’t won a game — four straight losses since Friday, six in eight, capped by Monday’s 10-5 defeat to the Cubs. “We haven’t won a game since he’s been here, but it’s not his doing,” Dave Roberts joked. “We just need to win a game.”
Arash Markazi’s point is that the crowning misses what the trade actually was. Go back two Octobers: the Padres had Los Angeles on the brink in the 2024 NLDS, forcing consecutive elimination-game wins — one started by a bullpen because the Dodgers had run out of healthy arms. Last October, Toronto led the World Series 3-1 and was two outs from a title in Game 7 before Miguel Rojas tied it and Will Smith won it. Even in 2020, Atlanta had three chances to end them. This is still a team waiting on Ohtani’s full pitching workload, with Snell and Glasnow sidelined, Smith and Rushing hurt, Betts scuffling and Tucker still searching for consistency. The Dodgers didn’t trade for Skubal because they think they’re invincible. They traded for him because they know exactly how fragile a championship is.
GO DEEPER
› Arash Markazi: Tarik Skubal makes the Dodgers better but not unbeatable (The Sporting Tribune)
› Arash Markazi: Tarik Skubal set for Dodgers debut as post-deadline roster finalized (The Sporting Tribune)
› Fredo Cervantes: Dodgers Notebook — three deadline moves bolster championship push (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ THE PADRES BOUGHT BIG, THEN WENT QUIET
A.J. Preller wasn’t subtle. Before first pitch in Phoenix, the Padres added left-hander Robbie Ray from San Francisco and former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize from Detroit, filling the rotation hole behind Michael King. “You need starting pitching to get into the postseason,” Preller said. Then the offense that had averaged 5.11 runs while winning eight of nine went silent. Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt fired 6.2 scoreless innings — he’s at a 1.55 ERA in seven starts since being recalled June 30 — and held Tatis Jr., Cronenworth and Machado hitless in nine at-bats. King allowed three runs over five, the damage coming on Tim Tawa’s 404-foot three-run shot in the fourth. San Diego’s only run scored on a Nolan Arenado throwing error. Arizona doubled its Wild Card cushion and now leads the season series 4-3 with six to play.
GO DEEPER
› Brady Charette: Padres drop series opener to Diamondbacks following Trade Deadline (The Sporting Tribune)
› Brady Charette: Padres acquire LHP Robbie Ray in trade with Giants (The Sporting Tribune)
› Brady Charette: Padres strike deal with Tigers for Casey Mize (The Sporting Tribune)
🏀 THE ACES NEEDED THAT ONE
Two nights after handing Chicago a game they should have won, Las Vegas ruined Barbie Night in Atlanta. The Aces rampaged to a 109-87 win, flipping a sloppy first quarter with a 33-14 second and never letting up — a departure from the last trip to Atlanta, when they let a lead slip. “Our defense was just really locked in,” A’ja Wilson said. “We showed them different looks and we made it hard for them to get clean looks.” The night belonged to Jackie Young, who followed a first-quarter flagrant with the third triple-double of her career: 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, plus four three-pointers — matching Atlanta’s entire team output from deep. “Just play hard, make the right reads and just play good basketball,” Young said.
GO DEEPER
› Derek Hegna: Aces respond to adversity with blowout win over Dream (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — TUESDAY, AUGUST 4
⚾ MLB: Angels at Orioles — ABTV — 3:30 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Dodgers at Cubs — TBS, SNLA — 5:05 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Padres at Diamondbacks — Padres TV — 6:40 p.m. PT
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
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⚾ MLB: Dodgers at Cubs — Wrigley Field — $95
🌴 TST TRIVIA
No team has won three straight World Series in a quarter century. Which team was the last to do it — and in which years?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
Today’s episode gets into why the Dodgers’ losing streak has complicated the coronation, plus the Padres’ deadline haul, the Angels’ reset and the Aces’ bounce-back in Atlanta as well as an update from Raiders, Rams and Chargers training camp. Hear it on the radio across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii via Westwood One Sports, The Bet Las Vegas, Hawaii Sports Radio Network and KIRN in Los Angeles.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: The New York Yankees, 1998-2000.
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