The Chicago Cubs just watched their World Series hopes take a hit, and they accidentally helped make it happen.
The Los Angeles Dodgers landed two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers in what’s shaping up as one of the biggest trades in recent memory. But here’s the kicker – the Cubs actually provided part of the ammunition for this blockbuster deal.
How’s that work exactly?
It all traces back to a seemingly routine trade the Cubs made two years ago. Jim Bowden from The Athletic connected the dots perfectly:
“So the Dodgers acquired Zyhir Hope from the Cubs for Michael Busch and River Ryan from the Padres for Meatt Beatty and drafted Brady Smith in the 3rd round of ’23 and turned them into Tarik Skubal. Got it.”
Back in January 2024, Chicago swung a deal with Los Angeles that looked pretty standard at the time. The Cubs got first baseman Michael Busch and reliever Yency Almonte. In return, they sent over prospects Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope.
Fast forward to now, and Hope just became the headline prospect in Detroit’s return package for Skubal.
That’s gotta sting a little.
The Butterfly Effect
Look, the Cubs weren’t trying to help their competition build a superteam. The Busch trade made sense at the time – they needed major league talent, and Busch has been solid for them over the past two seasons.
But there’s no getting around what happened here. By dealing Hope to the Dodgers, Chicago inadvertently gave Los Angeles a key piece they’d later flip for one of baseball’s elite pitchers.
The Cubs weren’t the only ones who helped this deal come together. The Padres also contributed by trading River Ryan to the Dodgers, giving LA another piece of the Skubal puzzle.
What makes this particularly tough for Chicago is the timing. They’re trying to build something competitive, and now they’re staring at a Dodgers rotation that just got even more intimidating with Skubal anchoring it.
The road to October was already going to run through Los Angeles. Now it’s gotten that much steeper, and the Cubs played a small part in making it happen.
