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Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports laid out the Dodgers’ projected starting rotation following the blockbuster Tarik Skubal acquisition, and the picture he paints is about as dominant as anything we’ve seen assembled in the modern era. The rotation, as currently constructed, gives the Dodgers a stacking of frontline arms that should terrify every team left standing in October.

Skubal slots in as the crown jewel of a deadline haul that didn’t technically address a glaring need so much as it turned a position of strength into something bordering on absurd. The reigning AL Cy Young winner was the best pitcher available on the trade market — arguably the best pitcher to hit the market at a deadline in years — and the Dodgers went out and got him. His elite mix of fastball command, sweeper, and changeup gives him the kind of three-pitch arsenal that plays up in any environment, but especially in October when lineups shorten and hitters have to respect every offering. He’s been one of the five best pitchers in baseball over the past two seasons, full stop.

At the top of the rotation, Shohei Ohtani remains the headliner. He’s been doing Ohtani things on the mound this season — racking up strikeouts, generating swings and misses at elite rates, and pitching deep into games. Having him and Skubal as a 1-2 punch in a playoff series is the kind of combination that forces opposing managers into impossible decisions about lineup construction and bullpen usage.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto continues to establish himself as one of the best young pitchers in baseball. His recent dominant outing against the Red Sox — even in a loss — showed exactly why the Dodgers invested so heavily in bringing him over from Japan. Yamamoto’s precision and pitch mix give the Dodgers a legitimate Game 3 starter who would be the ace on most other staffs.

Blake Snell, who recently reached 10 years of major league service time, is working his way back from injury with one more rehab start in Triple-A before rejoining the big league club. When healthy, Snell is a former Cy Young winner himself — a pitcher who can look unhittable for stretches and who has proven he can dominate in high-leverage postseason situations. His return gives this rotation yet another arm with top-of-the-rotation pedigree.

Beyond those four, the Dodgers still have Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw in the mix, along with depth options that most teams would kill to have as their fourth or fifth starter. The sheer volume of elite arms means Andrew Roberts can manage workloads down the stretch without sacrificing quality — something that matters a lot in a 162-game grind that leads into October.

I’ll say it plainly: this is the deepest, most talented rotation the Dodgers have assembled in the modern era — and that’s saying something for a franchise that’s had no shortage of pitching talent over the past decade. The Skubal trade didn’t just make us better. It made the path through the Dodgers in a playoff series feel genuinely unfair for the opposition. Four starters with Cy Young-caliber stuff, plus the depth to absorb an injury without collapsing. That’s the kind of rotation that wins championships, and we have it right now.

Source(s): Jeff Passan (Yahoo Sports) | First reported: August 2, 2026 3:46 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers