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 following him to the Dodgers, in the wake of the team’s blockbuster trade for him last Saturday, all he had to do was scan his surroundings at Wrigley Field in his club debut on Tuesday night.
With his new team, comes a whole new level of polarizing expectation.
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 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, his final line likely would’ve looked even better than his (still quality) six-inning, two-run mark.
The real story, though, 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,” manager Dave Roberts said –– 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 a reigning two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher to its rotation.
“I don’t really sympathize with people that are complaining,” Skubal had said on the eve of his outing. “Because the Dodgers do all the right things.”
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.
Neither Skubal nor the Dodgers will mind such reactions, of course.
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.”
Indeed, the most unfortunate parts of Tuesday night were the way the rest of team played around their new ace.
In what was a 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.
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 to be saddled with the losing decision in his team debut.
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.
Really, it’s why they went out and traded for Skubal in the first place; content to rankle opposing fan bases and frustrate rival teams to do everything they 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.
