The San Diego Padres are less than two weeks away from playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in South Korea, but they still managed to surprise the baseball world with a stunning trade Wednesday night.

San Diego has acquired pitcher Dylan Cease from the Chicago White Sox, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The trade was later reported as official by Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

The acqusition of Cease is huge for the Padres, to say the least. The effect of his arrival in San Diego is yet to be felt on the mound, but on the betting boards, it's already making an impact.

Padres' odds to win 2024 World Series after Dylan Cease trade

Just a few days ago, the Padres had odds of +6000 to be the last team standing in the 2024 MLB season. With San Diego getting the services of Cease, the team's odds to win the World Series in 2024 have shortened down to only +4800 over at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Cease joins the Padres' pitching staff that features the likes of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, and Michael King. His addition to San Diego comes on the heels of the Padres seeing Josh Hader, Seth Lugo, Nick Martinez, and Michael Wacha go. That is not to mention Blake Snell, who is still a free agent. Snell doesn't look like he's going to return to San Diego even amid his prolonged search for a landing spot this offseason. The trade for Cease has only made the potential of San Diego's reunion with Snell even harder to imagine.

In what turned out to be his final season with the Padres in 2023, Musgrove went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA and 3.72 FIP across 33 starts and 177.0 innings. Overall in his career in the majors, Cease owns a 43-35 record with a 3.83 ERA and 1.305 FIP along with a 113 ERA+

The Padres, who are coming off an 82-80 2023 season, are facing Dodgers in Seoul for a two-game series that starts on Mar. 20. Darvish is scheduled to start for the Padres in the first game while Musgrove is slated to take the mound in the second leg. Cease's debut for the Padres will likely come when San Diego returns to the United States.