Shohei Ohtani update turns up the heat on Tigers, Tarik Skubal despite Detroit’s turnaround

As far as anyone outside the Tigers organization knows right now, Detroit does not plan to trade Tarik Skubal. The way they fare over their 13 games left before the trade deadline could certainly change that, but Scott "I can't do my job without listening" Harris has seemed unusually bullish about keeping Skubal and going for it in August and September.

No one knows exactly how close the Tigers have to get to a Wild Card spot for the front office to decide fully one way or the other, but it might not be that black-and-white. Even if they get to .500 before the deadline, they may get a Hail Mary offer on Skubal they can't refuse.

And if anyone is going to make that Hail Mary offer, it's probably going to be the Dodgers. Not only do the Dodgers have the resources to get it done, they care the least about having to give them away for a rental. And their rotation just lost Shohei Ohtani indefinitely.

Ohtani's been dealing with knee inflammation and was scratched from his scheduled start against the Phillies on Wednesday. The Dodgers aren't sure when or if he'll return to the mound this season.

LA still has a full rotation without Ohtani and are reportedly no more motivated to acquire a starter now than they were before this news, but Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman should never be totally discounted.

Delusional Dodgers fans still think they're a lock for Tarik Skubal trade amid Tigers surge

Dodgers fans who are acting like they're a lock to get Skubal are either disgustingly entitled or completely unplugged from the Tigers' actual reality right now — or both (probably both). Not knowing everything there is to know about another team is fine, but if Dodgers fans can't look at the Wild Card standings in the AL and acknowledge that the Tigers still have a shot, that's a special kind of ignorance.

In all likelihood, the reality is that Harris will keep his ears open unless the Tigers somehow eke into a Wild Card spot by Aug. 3. The Dodgers, who are apparently unmoved from making a big move this year but are always at least a little bit of a threat, could pull off a buzzer-beater deal with the Tigers akin to the one they made in 2024 for Jack Flaherty.

But it would be foolish not to acknowledge that the Tigers are still in this fight. The won their series against the Angels, and now they have some momentum going into the hardest matchup of this sprint — three games against the Cubs.

The Tigers and Skubal are far from safe, but it's not over 'til it's over.

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