Alden Gonzalez Oct 29, 2026, 07:00 AM ET

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ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

The sudden end to the Los Angeles Dodgers' bid for a three-peat felt especially jarring to Tarik Skubal .

The two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner, acquired in a trade deadline blockbuster from the Detroit Tigers , was scheduled to take the ball for Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. In his mind, he said, there was no doubt he would make that start, keep his new team alive, give the rest of the Dodgers' star-studded rotation another chance and see what would happen.

Then reality set in, not long after the final out was made at 10:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 15, when the Milwaukee Brewers completed a stunning sweep.

Suddenly, Skubal was talking about his Dodgers tenure in the past tense.

"The group of guys, the clubhouse, the culture they have here -- it's real," he said.…