Dodgers fans are salivating after Paul Skenes’ latest LA wink

Cleveland Guardians v Pittsburgh Pirates
Cleveland Guardians v Pittsburgh Pirates | Brandon Sloter/GettyImages

Pirates pitching sensation Paul Skenes saw the Dodgers twice last year, once in Pittsburgh and once in LA, and Dodgers hitters actually managed to see his stuff pretty well. Their .261 batting average against him is the third-highest of any team he's faced, and their .813 OPS is by far the highest. But that hardly touched Skenes, who finished the year with a sub-2.00 ERA and became the almost undisputed NL Rookie of the Year.

In his start at Dodger Stadium, Skenes pitched in front of near-sold out crowd (as opposed to the less than 30,000 at PNC Park when the Dodgers rolled into town), which immediately had fans imagining what he might look like in Dodger blue. And they probably weren't alone; Skenes won't be a free agent until after the 2029 season, but his free agency will be chaotic.

It'd be more shocking if the Dodgers don't approach Skenes when the time comes than if they do. By that point, Tyler Glasnow's contract will have been up for a year, Blake Snell has only a club option for 2030, Clayton Kershaw will most likely be retired, and Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin may move on to different pastures in free agency.

Skenes is the probable pitcher for Friday's Dodgers-Pirates series opener in LA, where he'll face Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Skenes acknowledged ahead of his start, "It's going to be a zoo."

Paul Skenes returns to Dodger Stadium on Friday, facing off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers

Would it be going too far to read into that as a little bit of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge? Maybe. But it'll probably be nice for Skenes, whose own team struggles to fill seats even when he's starting, to pitch in front of a crowd that really wants to see him, even they're not rooting for him. Wouldn't it be so much better if they were?

Again, Skenes has years ahead of him before he reaches free agency, and the Pirates are going to hold onto him with a white-knuckled grip until they can't anymore. The likelihood that the Pirates offer him an extension that's actually respectable and that Skenes will seriously consider is incredibly low, given the sorry state of Pittsburgh's front office. That'll leave the door wide open for teams who will actually pay him what he's worth to poke their heads in.

Skenes vs. Yamamoto on Friday night is going to be can't-miss television, and hopefully it's a preview for just a few years down the line.

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