Dodgers stock up for three-peat quest with Tarik Skubal stunner in yet another spalsh

The Dodgers did it again.

Even in a year in which they didn’t have any big trade deadline needs, and signaled a willingness to make only marginal midseason moves in pursuit of a third consecutive World Series title, the two-time defending champions went out and made the biggest splash of the deadline season once again.

Two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, welcome to Los Angeles.

In a blockbuster deal with the Tigers on Saturday, the Dodgers acquired Skubal, according to multiple sources, as the Post’s Jon Heyman first reported.

Outfielder Zyhir Hope, right-handed pitcher River Ryan and right-handed pitcher Brady Smith are heading back to Detroit, sources confirmed.

Just like that, the Dodgers will add yet another superstar talent to their world-beating roster.

Now, an already probable World Series in 2026 feels that much more inevitable.

The Dodgers, of course, didn’t need Skubal before MLB’s Monday trade deadline, not after expressing confidence in recent weeks that their talented starting rotation — which has been without Shohei Ohtani (knee), Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) lately — would be healthy come the stretch run of the season.

On the other hand, the Dodgers don’t sit out sweepstakes for “needle-moving” players.

And for this year’s deadline, no one moved the needle for their championship odds more than Skubal —who will be a free agent after this season but has also been arguably the best pitcher in the sport over the last three years.

A 29-year-old left-hander from Northern California, Skubal long ago emerged as the best player likely to be moved at the deadline.

The Tigers considered trading him this offseason, as it became clear he would likely end up somewhere else as a potential record-setting free agent this winter.

However, they held onto him then in hopes of competing again in 2026, following back-to-back postseason trips spearheaded by his back-to-back Cy Young campaigns.

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Instead, the Tigers’ season went off the rails quickly, with the club going 22-38 through the end of May. Skubal was out for much of that stretch, after undergoing a procedure to have a loose body removed from his elbow on May 6.

A brief uptick in form — the Tigers went 28-16 from June 1 to July 24 — was followed by another poorly timed skid this past week, cementing the Tigers’ status as a seller ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.

Thus, Skubal became the top target on the market, thanks to another strong season in which he is 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA this year (including a 2.87 mark since coming off the injured list).

And the Dodgers, as the rest of the industry suspected all along, were ready to pounce; their proclamations about having no “acute needs” at this deadline be damned.