Los Angeles paid a prospect haul for the two-time Cy Young winner at the deadline, and a betting market that already had the two-time champs on top pushed them further ahead. Bovada now lists the Dodgers at +150 to win a third straight title.
- The Dodgers acquired two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from Detroit for three prospects, the biggest move of the 2026 trade deadline.
- On Bovada, Los Angeles sits at +150 to win the World Series, roughly a 40% implied chance and far ahead of the next team, the Yankees at +550.
- In the National League, the Dodgers are a -120 favorite just to reach the World Series, the only NL club on the wrong side of even money.
- Skubal, a Hayward, California, native and a pending free agent, is set to make his Dodgers debut Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
LOS ANGELES – The best team in baseball just added the best pitcher on the market, and the betting market barely paused before making the Los Angeles Dodgers an even heavier World Series favorite. Two days before Monday’s trade deadline, the two-time defending champions acquired left-hander Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers, and by the weekend Bovada had them at +150 to win it all, the shortest price in a 30-team field by a wide margin.
The Best Arm on the Market
Skubal was the deadline’s marquee name, and it was not close. The 29-year-old is the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, the first pitcher to take the award in consecutive AL seasons since Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000. He is 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA and 116 strikeouts this year, and after returning from arthroscopic elbow surgery in June he has looked like himself again, including a season-high 12 strikeouts against the Royals on July 24. To land him, Los Angeles sent Detroit a package of three prospects: outfielder Zyhir Hope and right-handers River Ryan and Brady Smith. Skubal can reach free agency after the season, which is why the Tigers dealt him rather than risk losing him for nothing.
For a Dodgers club built on star power, it was the move rival executives long expected. As ESPN put it in grading the trade, the deal enhanced championship odds that were already the highest in the sport.
What Bovada’s Numbers Say
The market had the Dodgers on top before the trade, and Skubal widened the gap. Los Angeles now sits at +150 to win the World Series on Bovada, an implied probability of roughly 40 percent. The next team on the board, the New York Yankees, is all the way back at +550, and no one else is shorter than the Atlanta Braves at +850.
| Team | Odds to win the World Series |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | +150 |
| New York Yankees | +550 |
| Atlanta Braves | +850 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | +950 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | +1500 |
| Boston Red Sox | +1600 |
| Chicago Cubs | +2000 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | +2000 |
The National League picture is even more lopsided. Bovada makes the Dodgers a -120 favorite simply to win the pennant and reach the World Series, the only NL club priced on the wrong side of even money. The Milwaukee Brewers at +475 and the Braves at +550 are the nearest challengers. Put another way, the market treats a trip to the Fall Classic as more likely than not for a team that still has an entire postseason to navigate.
Why Los Angeles Wanted Him
Part of the logic is defensive. By adding Skubal, the Dodgers made sure he could not face them in October in another contender’s uniform. Part of it is need: two-way star Shohei Ohtani has been managing a knee issue that has clouded his availability as a pitcher, leaving the rotation less settled than the lineup. And part of it is simply that Los Angeles, chasing a third straight title, had the prospect capital to outbid everyone. Skubal, for his part, said he was “excited to be a Dodger” and to chase another championship. He is set to debut Tuesday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
A Bet Californians Cannot Legally Place
There is a local hook beyond the uniform. Skubal grew up in Hayward, in the Bay Area, a California kid joining the state’s marquee franchise. But the market pricing all of this sits offshore. Sports betting remains illegal in California so the Bovada lines here are for reference, not a wager anyone can place on a regulated sportsbook within California. It is the same backdrop that has shadowed every recent debate over the Dodgers’ World Series odds and the broader question of gambling in California.
What to Watch
The obvious storyline is whether Skubal pitches well enough, and stays healthy enough, to justify a market that already treats the Dodgers as close to a lock. Beyond that, watch whether Los Angeles tries to sign him beyond this season, and listen for the grumbling: the deal has revived complaints that the sport’s richest team can simply buy whatever it wants, a theme certain to resurface in the offseason’s labor talks. For now, the numbers tell the story. Baseball’s best team got better, and its odds got shorter.