Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto the Dodgers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling?

Whatever the Dodgers are saying publicly, the truth is they don’t know what their starting rotation will look like in October.While Blake Snell was finishing up a minor-league rehabilitation assignment on Tuesday, Tyler Glasnow was just starting one.As for Shohei Ohtani, who knows what his status is, the two-way player a month removed from the last time he pitched in a game.Ordinarily, this kind of uncertainty would be a major source of anxiety.But for these Dodgers, anything they get out of their mending starters will almost be a bonus. In the absolute worst-case scenario, they could ride their two best starters.Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto – or should that be Yamamoto and Skubal? – could by themselves lead the Dodgers to their third consecutive World Series title.In a five-game series, they could start a combined three times.

In a seven-game series, four.Other teams used this formula to win championships.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story The Washington Nationals with Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer.The San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

The Arizona Diamondbacks with Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.And before any of that, of course, the Dodgers with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.When Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said his team was focused on Skubal, and Skubal only, in the days leading up to the trade deadline, this was why.“Whenever there’s a star-level player that is available that can really shift championship odds,” Friedman said, “those are the moments that we’ll be more aggressive.”In Yamamoto, the Dodgers already had a pitcher who last year delivered one of the greatest postseason runs in recent memory.

In Skubal, they picked up a two-time Cy Young Award winner whom ...