They paid a king’s ransom to make him the final piece of their baseball death star, and the entire sport is already letting him hear about it. Tarik Skubal, the two-time Cy Young winner freshly acquired by the already-despised Los Angeles Dodgers, received a villain’s welcome worthy of a WWE heel at Wrigley Field—and it was only his first start. From prop planes towing anti-Dodgers banners to stadium-wide boos and mocking chants of his own name, Skubal’s debut was less a baseball game and more a public shaming ritual, a preview of the polarizing spotlight that now follows him everywhere.

The atmosphere was so venomous, Skubal admitted it felt like his major league debut all over again, a cacophony of ’nerves’ and noise. Outside, a plane banner accused his new club of ‘ruining baseball.’ Inside, 40,000 Cubs fans treated his every warm-up pitch and mound visit with a cascade of boos, later breaking into a derisive, stadium-wide ‘Skubal! Skubal! Skubal!’ chant designed to rattle him. This is the new normal for the left-handed ace, who traded relative anonymity in Detroit for the twin burdens of a Dodger uniform and a ‘blockbuster trade’ tag. Manager Dave Roberts shrugged, ‘I do think that Tarik will get that kind of reception every time he toes the rubber.’

Ironically, Skubal pitched well enough to win on most nights, holding the Cubs to two runs over six innings with his 99 mph heat. But in the script of this new, high-stakes drama, his personal performance was almost a subplot. The real story was the spectacle of animosity and the Dodgers’ continued, perplexing stumble. Despite adding a reigning Cy Young winner and a new catcher at the deadline, the team of superstars dropped their fifth straight game, mustering only four hits and watching their bullpen implode yet again, leaving Skubal saddled with a hard-luck loss.

The scene served as a stark reminder: buying the best players doesn’t buy immunity. The Dodgers, for all their galactic payroll and star power, look startlingly mortal, clinging to a slim lead for a playoff bye. Skubal, for his part, took the hazing in stride, calling the hostile environment ‘a ton of fun’ and the price of admission for joining baseball’s most hated empire. But the message from the Friendly Confines was clear. The Dodgers’ quest for a three-peat has made them the league’s ultimate villains, and Skubal, their shiny new weapon, is now public enemy number one. Every start will be an away game, every pitch met with jeers. The question isn’t if he can handle the pressure, but whether his new, star-studded but suddenly shaky team can handle it with him.