Every baseball fan should be pulling for Pirates' Paul Skenes to stop Dodgers dominance

If the rebel forces are to penetrate the Los Angeles Dodgers death star, then Paul Skenes is their Luke Skywalker. Please excuse the Star Wars puns with May 5 a week behind us, but there is no easier comparison in pop culture for the Dodgers' dominance than the Empire. Andrew Friedman is Palpatine. Shohei Ohtani, as a two-way freak of nature, is the Dodgers Darth Vader. You get the picture.

But this is not a Dodgers article, nor is it another boring soliloquy about how broken baseball is. Instead, Pirates ace Paul Skenes ought to provide a rare ray of hope for fans — whether they be in small markets or the Big Apple — that the Dodgers and Ohtani can be had. Don't believe me? Vegas typically has an eye for these things.

NL Cy Young odds: Paul Skenes consistency gives him an edge

Not only did Skenes win this award last season, he's the favorite to secure his second-straight NL Cy Young in 2026. This is all despite one of the worst Opening Day starts for a Pirates pitcher in recent memory against the lowly Mets, in which he gave up five earned runs in less than an inning pitched. Since then, Skenes has just one start in which he gave up more than one earned run, and that came against Pittsburgh's NL Central, foe, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Per USA Today, Skenes' odds to win the Cy Young have remained stable, as he began the season as a +350 favorite, and has since improved his chances to +190.

As a two-way force in the National League, Ohtani surprisingly doesn't have an edge in Cy Young voting for a good reason. Ohtani has far more on his plate, and is coming off a season in which he made just 14 starts. So far in 2026, Ohtani has six appearances and an 0.97 ERA to show for it. While Ohtani may have a slight advantage over Skenes in quality, the latter counterbalances with quantity.

Why baseball is better when the Dodgers have a true challenger

We're a week away from Memorial Day, the traditional time for every MLB front office to take a serious look in the mirror. Despite falling into second place in the NL West, the Dodgers have to be feeling pretty good about themselves. Ohtani's mired in a slump of his own from the dish, but LA has maintained some semblance of normalcy. This roster is too talented to outright fail, after all.

On the other side of the coin, the Pirates made worthwhile free-agent additions for the first time in close to a decade, and that's only if you count JA Happ as a meaningful starting pitching upgrade. As much as I may tire of small-market owners complaining about their revenue — or lack thereof — the point remains that it's tougher for these teams to compete, especially when every star they acquire (including Skenes) is eventually linked to Los Angeles.

For once, the Dodgers may not get what they want. Ohtani's return to glory could be thwarted by a player making 1/70th of his salary this season, on a team whose front office knows little about contract deferrals. Perhaps the galaxy has a chance, after all.

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