CHICAGO –– Outside the ballpark, there was signage calling him overrated. Above the Friendly Confines, a prop plane towed a banner saying his new team is ruining baseball.
When he took the mound for the first time, the better part of 40,000 fans booed him intensely.
At various points during his debut start with the Dodgers, the stadium then mockingly chanted his name.
If Tarik Skubal was curious about what kind of spotlight would be upon him now, in the wake of the Dodgers’ blockbuster trade for him last Saturday, all he had to do was scan his surroundings at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night to find out.
With his new team, comes a whole new level of polarizing expectation.
“I do think that Tarik will get that kind of reception every time he toes the rubber,” manager Dave Roberts said.
In his first game with the Dodgers, Skubal largely pitched well in a 5-1 defeat.
He began the night by freezing Pete Crow-Armstrong with a 99 mph sinker. He retired five more in a row from there before Dansby Swanson ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a leadoff home run in the third. After escaping a jam later that inning, he mowed down the next eight he faced, collecting his sixth and final strikeout of the night on another 99 mph that blew away Crow-Armstrong for the first out in the sixth.
And if not for Kyle Tucker whiffing on a fly ball at the wall two batters later, or Nico Hoerner trampolining an infield RBI single straight off the plate and some 20 feet in the air with two outs in the frame, his final line likely would’ve looked even better than his (still quality) six-inning, two-run mark.
“It felt like my major league debut,” Skubal said afterward. “Kind of same type of vibe in terms of the nerves running through. But I think that’s all good stuff.”
The real story was just how much the Wrigley Field crowd reviled his presence.
For as much excitement bustled through the Dodgers’ home clubhouse pregame –– “It’s just not another game,” Roberts said beforehand –– there was an equal level of disdain from the opposing fans.
So it will go for Skubal and the Dodgers the rest of this year, after the club already labeled as baseball’s biggest villain added the reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner to its star-studded roster.
“I don’t know what to expect,” Skubal said, striking a complementary tone while comparing the atmosphere to a playoff environment. “I’m going to go play baseball, but I’m not going to try and predict the future.”
Skubal stays in rhythm
Skubal’s day started with routine.
Three hours before first pitch, his 6-foot-3 frame was sprawled out on the floor of Wrigley Field’s visiting clubhouse, with a towel rolled up underneath his legs as he went through a series of stretches.
After that, he walked into a closed-doors game-planning meeting with his new battery mate, and fellow deadline arrival, Ben Rortvedt –– who had only arrived in Chicago on Tuesday morning after being reacquired by the Dodgers on Monday afternoon.
Then, as fans began piling into the ballpark, he emerged on the field to his first chorus of boos, which only grew as he got loose in the outfield before his pregame bullpen session.
“It’s a ton of fun to play in front of crowds like that,” Skubal said. “Even if they’re booing me or whatever it is, I think that’s what makes the game of baseball really fun.”
Indeed, neither Skubal nor the Dodgers will mind such reactions.
It’s all a reminder of the dominance both have displayed even before they united for another World Series push last week.
To Roberts, it’s the way Skubal embraces such moments –– his “intensity” and “compete” –– that has always struck him most about the 29-year-old left-hander anyway.
“I don’t want to say [he is] old school, but it’s a guy who’s just physical and he’s coming after you with electric stuff, high-octane,” Roberts said, later adding: “In between the lines, he’s a dog. Outside the lines, he’s humble, respectful, does and says the right things. That’s what you want. Just fortunate that he’s pitching for us.”
Instead, the most unfortunate part of Tuesday night was the way the rest of team played around its new ace.
In what was a season-high fifth-consecutive loss, the Dodgers managed just four hits, rolled into two double-plays (including one right before Tucker hit a solo blast for their lone run), and watched their slumping bullpen struggle again after Skubal was pulled after only 85 pitches.
“I’m not going to push him every time out,” Roberts said of that decision. “We have a lot of baseball left to play. He’s a guy that we’re all counting on. so I think that I’m going to manage, pick my spots with him.”
Alex Vesia gave up two hits in the seventh that became two runs –– the latter scoring when Evan Phillips replaced him but failed to escape a jam. Recently returned closer Edwin Díaz only got two outs in the eighth, getting the hook from Roberts after allowing a home run, a walk and a single.
That left Skubal saddled with the losing decision in his debut performance.
It also offered a reminder that, for as good as their roster now looks, and as much grief as they will take from the rest of the sport, the Dodgers also aren’t invincible.
“I don’t know the answer of what’s got to give,” Roberts said, with the Dodgers (69-45) now trailing the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League’s top record and holding only a half-game lead on the Atlanta Braves for a top-two seed and first-round playoff bye. “But we got to find a way to win a ball game.”
Really, this is why the team went out and traded for Skubal in the first place; content to rankle opposing fan bases and frustrate rival teams to do everything it can to maximize their three-peat chances.
For Skubal, it creates a new reality.
And he didn’t have to wait long to feel the pressure he’ll now face.
