Tarik Skubal starts NLDS Game 1 for Dodgers against Braves on Saturday

What happened

Tarik Skubal, acquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trade deadline, is reportedly set to make his first postseason start for the club when Los Angeles hosts Atlanta in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, Oct. 3, at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium, per Yahoo Sports. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on Fox, with streaming available via Fubo.

The Dodgers enter the series as back-to-back World Series champions, and per Yahoo Sports, no National League team has ever won three consecutive titles. The last Major League Baseball team to accomplish that was the New York Yankees, who did so across a three-year run that ended with the franchise's third straight title.

Why it matters

Skubal's arrival at the trade deadline gave the Dodgers a rotation piece with a résumé that commands attention in October. Per Yahoo Sports, he is a back-to-back Cy Young winner making his first postseason start for this club — a significant operational development for a team that last played six days ago and is now stepping directly into a best-of-five series.

The layoff is a double-edged consideration. The Dodgers earned a bye to the NLDS by posting the second-best record in the National League, per Yahoo Sports, which means they have not played since before Atlanta wrapped up a wild card series against their rival. Whether six days of rest sharpens or dulls a rotation is one of the sport's more reliably debated questions, and Skubal's workload coming in gives the Dodgers a credible answer at the top of the schedule.

Per Yahoo Sports, Skubal told reporters that everybody on the club shares one goal and that he fits right in with that. He described his approach as trying to win as many baseball games as possible and said he is excited to begin doing that in October.

Yahoo Sports also notes that Skubal is a free agent this winter and is expected to sign a record-setting contract. The postseason stage, then, carries weight beyond the pennant chase — though the desk will leave the contract speculation to the offseason and focus on what Saturday actually asks of him.

The numbers

Skubal went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA across 10 starts after joining the Dodgers, per Yahoo Sports. Atlanta's probable starter for Game 1 is listed as TBD.

The Dodgers finished the regular season at 100-62 (.617), first in the NL West, and enter the NLDS on a three-game winning streak. Dave Roberts, a week removed from tying the MLB record with his sixth 100-win season as a manager — all with the Dodgers, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting — now takes that club into October with the rotation piece he added at the deadline getting the ball first.

Where the club stands

Los Angeles sits at 100-62 (.617), atop the NL West, riding a three-game winning streak into the postseason. The full NLDS schedule, as announced by MLB and reported by Yahoo Sports, runs as follows: Game 1 on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Los Angeles (4 p.m. ET); Game 2 on Sunday, Oct. 4 at Los Angeles (8 p.m. ET); Game 3 on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at Atlanta (6 p.m. ET); Game 4 on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Atlanta, if necessary (6 p.m. ET); and Game 5 on Friday, Oct. 9 at Los Angeles, if necessary (8 p.m. ET).

The health picture heading into the series is worth noting. Freddie Freeman spent the bye week working through injuries and addressing his swing after a rough September, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, though he said his knee is in a good spot heading into the NLDS. Shohei Ohtani reported feeling great physically and continued hitting through the bye week, per that same reporting. On the other side of the ledger, Blake Treinen injured his shoulder warming up in the bullpen and is not expected to be available for the Dodgers' postseason, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting — a meaningful absence from a bullpen that will be asked to carry significant innings across a short series.

What we don't know yet

Atlanta's Game 1 starter remains listed as TBD, per the schedule information, which makes it difficult to fully map the series' pitching matchups beyond Skubal's assignment. The Braves' rotation construction coming out of the wild card series is an open question heading into Saturday.

Skubal's free agency this winter, flagged by Yahoo Sports as likely to produce a record-setting contract, adds a layer of context to every October outing — but the terms, timeline, and any club interest are unconfirmed details that belong to a different news cycle.

The precise scope of Freeman's injuries and how they affect his availability or lineup position has not been formally addressed by the club beyond his own comments that his knee is in a good spot, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting.

What to watch

The obvious question Saturday is how Skubal performs in his first postseason start for Los Angeles — 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 10 regular-season starts as a Dodger is the baseline, per Yahoo Sports, and the NLDS is the first chance to see whether that translates to October baseball against a Braves lineup that fought through a wild card series to get here.

Beyond Skubal, the Dodgers' bullpen construction without Treinen will be worth tracking across the series. A best-of-five compresses everything: the margin for error in late-inning situations is narrower, and the absence of a reliable arm — however that absence is managed — shapes how Roberts deploys his roster from Game 1 onward.

Freeman's at-bats early in the series will also draw attention. A rough September followed by a bye week of swing work, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, sets up Saturday as a meaningful early data point on where he actually is heading into October.

Yahoo Sports' panel of four writers — Bob Nightengale, Gabe Lacques, Kristie Ackert, and Jesse Yomtov — offered series predictions ranging from Dodgers in four to Dodgers in five. Those are predictions, not facts, and the desk notes them only because the sport's ritual of asking writers to forecast a series before it starts is one of baseball's more enduring traditions, right alongside the annual argument about whether a six-day layoff helps or hurts. Game 1 starts answering the actual questions at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.