Could the Dodgers really lose Tarik Skubal back to the Tigers?

Close your eyes for a second. Remember the scene in Hitch when Kevin James' character, a mild-mannered accountant, drifts off in the middle of a meeting with the billionaire he's crushing on? Suddenly they're cruising down the coast in a red convertible, her in a bonnet and sunglasses, both of them giggling with their arms around each other, until Will Smith's voice snaps him back to reality.

That's every Los Angeles Dodgers fan picturing Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell. Two Cy Young lefties, a decade at the top of the rotation, riding off into the Chavez Ravine sunset together. The bromance was one of the best storylines of the Dodgers' summer.

Snell certainly isn't letting it go. After the NLCS sweep, he told the California Post, "He can't leave me, especially on these terms," adding he'd "love nothing more" than for Skubal to be back. Now, before you take another sip of that $11 LA latte, there's something you should know.

Why Tarik Skubal's Tigers' comments should worry the Dodgers

This week, Scott Harris' comments from August resurfaced now that free agency is officially here. When Skubal told Pardon My Take that he'd "love to play my whole career in Detroit" and hoped talks could pick back up in November, Harris responded, "I'm not surprised. Our players love playing here."

It's almost November, and with a lockout looming, nobody really knows when Opening Day lands. But as someone who has called Michigan home for the past year, I can't wrap my head around it. It was still freezing here in early May, and there were days this winter I was ready to pack up and head back down South. I guess it's different when you've won two Cy Youngs in a city that loves you the way Detroit loves him. This place has a way of grabbing you, cold and all. 

All jokes aside, Detroit is a real threat. Under the Ilitch family, the Tigers ranked third in baseball in payroll in 2017, behind only the Dodgers and Yankees. And after adding Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander last winter, Chris Ilitch said going past the luxury tax is "really not an issue" if Harris wants to spend. A pizza empire has a lot of breadsticks behind it, I guess.

That brings it back to the wild card, this offseason's CBA. The collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and if it turns into a lockout, the market freezes and plenty of owners get cautious with nine-figure deals. That should favor the Dodgers' revenue machine. But if the Ilitch family truly wants its ace back, a lockout won't stop it.

So could it happen? Absolutely. But the Dodgers have Andrew Friedman, the deepest pockets in baseball and a best friend in the rotation who's already blowing up Skubal's phone. Keep dreaming, Dodgers fans. But maybe just keep one eye open.

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