Discarded Dodgers All-Star would definitely love another shot at LA in World Series

Before this season, the Tigers were a pretty anonymous crew outside of Tarik Skubal and perhaps Riley Greene, but Dodgers fans might also recognize former utilityman and top prospect Zach McKinstry, who's in his third season with the Tigers. Against all odds, McKinstry wound up traveling to Atlanta with five other Tigers for the first All-Star Game appearance of his career.

McKinstry was a 33rd-round pick for the Dodgers in 2016 and made his MLB debut in LA in 2020. He peaked at No. 15 in the pipeline, a feat for a player taken so late in the draft, but he only batted .210 with a .669 OPS over three seasons with the Dodgers, so they sent him packing to the Cubs at the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for Chris Martin. He only spent half-season in Chicago before being traded to the Tigers in exchange for Carlos Guzman.

Not a single Dodgers or Tigers fan could have expected McKinstry to play his way into this position, but he's been instrumental in Detroit's success this season; their .608 record led baseball going into the break. The Dodgers have the second-best record by a hair. As long as neither team falls apart in the second half, a Tigers-Dodgers World Series matchup is a very plausible.

Per FanSided's Adam Weinrib, McKinstry would love to get a shot at toppling the Dodgers on the biggest possible stage. He said, "It'd be awesome. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get 'em earlier this year, so just continue to look forward to that and do what we can to get there."

Former Dodgers utilityman Zach McKinstry, now Tigers All-Star, wants to see LA in the postseason

The Dodgers and Tigers have never seen each other in a Fall Classic, but that could very well change this year. Both were showing signs of wear going into the All-Star break — the Dodgers experienced one of their worst losing streaks (7) in years, and the Tigers dropped four straight after being swept by the Mariners.

But the consensus seems to be that what the Tigers have been doing this year isn't a fluke, and McKinstry's frankly astounding rise this has been a huge part of that. He's their most valuable position player and second only to Skubal, having come up in some huge spots for Detroit this year.

Both have some work to do at the trade deadline and could be competing for the same relievers, but if things stay as good for both as they were overall in the first half, McKinstry may get a chance to make the Dodgers regret trading him.