Tarik Skubal's Dodgers NLCS Celebration Interview Was 45 Seconds of Pure Beer-Drenched Chaos

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2026 — The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed to their eighth National League Championship Series in 11 years, and their midseason prize acquisition didn't throw a single pitch in the clincher. Didn't matter. Tarik Skubal stole Wednesday night anyway — not with his arm, but with a postgame interview that deserves a spot in the October highlight reel for all the wrong, hilarious reasons. (Heads up: the original videos contain some NSFW language, which is part of what made them so funny.)

The setup was simple enough. After the Dodgers finished off the Atlanta Braves in four games to punch their ticket to a NLCS rematch with the Milwaukee Brewers, SportsNet LA's David Vassegh tried to grab Skubal for a quick clubhouse hit. What followed was, by For The Win's estimation, arguably the most chaotic single interview of the playoffs. Both men were completely drenched in beer — Skubal had personally participated in drenching Vassegh — and it took roughly 45 seconds before anyone even attempted a question.

The interview that wasn't

Picture the scene: Vassegh, holding a microphone in a clubhouse that's basically a beer rave, trying to talk to a pitcher who has clearly decided the interview is secondary to the party. Skubal, for his part, dove headfirst into the drenching — he wasn't just a victim of the clubhouse spritz, he was an active participant, gleefully turning the tables on the reporter. Teammates kept coming over to spray both of them. At one point Vassegh was reduced to fending off beer like a boxer working a speed bag.

The highlights, as stated in Awful Announcing's meticulous breakdown of the footage, are an all-timer. Skubal announcing he'd "got another beer in a place where it shouldn't be." Telling Vassegh "the game's speeding up on you right now" — a baseball diagnosis applied, mid-celebration, to the reporter's ability to dodge Bud Light. Multiple teammates emptying bottles over the pair. A beer bottle somehow ending up stuck in the back of Vassegh's pants. And Vassegh only remembering to remind Skubal they were on live television after the f-bombs had already gone flying.

Somehow, after about a minute and 10 seconds of pure anarchy, the room ran out of full beers at the same moment — and the two men actually managed a brief conversation about the Dodgers moving one step closer to the World Series. Skubal told Vassegh he loved being part of the team, calling out the culture, the preparation, and the expectation to win. It was maybe 20 seconds of actual interview. It was worth the wait.

The two-beer warm-up act

The Vassegh interview wasn't even Skubal's first chaotic hit of the night. Earlier, in a conversation with fellow SportsNet LA reporter Kirsten Watson, the lefty had been asked about the celebration to come and delivered the kind of answer that immediately goes viral — an emphatic, profanity-laced "I can't wait," as the New York Post reported — and then, holding two different beers, he chugged them both at once. Most of the beer missed his mouth entirely and ran straight down his chest, and the clip was everywhere within the hour.

Here's the thing that makes this whole night work: none of it felt forced. This isn't a guy playing the class clown for the cameras. This is a pitcher who spent years in Detroit, tasted almost none of this kind of October success, and landed in the middle of baseball's most extravagant winning machine — and he is having the time of his life. He's two months into being a Dodger and he's already the guy with two beers at a time and the best interview disasters of the postseason.

The part the Dodgers actually care about

Beneath the beer shower, there's a real story here. Skubal is a free agent this winter — everyone knows it, including the Dodgers, who acquired the former Cy Young winner from the Tigers in August fully aware he might walk after October. Los Angeles gave up real prospects to rent him. But nights like Wednesday are exactly why you make that trade: not just the starts, but the clubhouse fit, the energy, the way a midseason addition can feel like a core piece within weeks.

Dodgers Nation's read on the night was that Skubal's joy at being a Dodger might actually matter come contract time — that a player this happy in this room might not be in such a hurry to leave. That's speculative, but watch the videos and tell me it reads as a guy who can't wait to get out of town. On the night he said he loved the culture, the preparation, and the expectation to win, it's hard to picture him anywhere else in March.

And the Dodgers are going to need him. The Brewers — the best team in baseball this season, 103 wins, home field in the NLCS — are not last year's speed bump. The rematch starts Sunday in Milwaukee. If Skubal's beer-soaked Wednesday was the release valve, the next two weeks are the reason they brought him here. Our full NLCS preview is here, and the ALCS picture gets decided tonight in Chicago.