2017 Showed Us That Harper and Trout are the Game's Best

On the final day of the season, a recovered Bryce Harper stung the ball four times, twice for singles that led to runs. In his final at-bat, he smashed a 114 mph line drive and later sprinted around the basepaths from first to home, helmet airborne, on a long single by a teammate.

Harper is back and ready for the playoffs.

Harper was cruising to another MVP season when he suffered a gruesome leg injury while stepping on a slippery base at full speed after a rain delay. The 50 games he missed left him with merely 29 home runs in a .319/.413/.598 season. 

I've already waxed poetic about Mike Trout, also the MVP of his league had he not ripped up his thumb sliding on a steal. Trout and Harper, the two ends of the charisma continuum, won't earn a single MVP vote between them.

But 2017 reminded us that they are the two best players in the game. That's despite the influx of great young players, particularly middle infielders, over the past three-four seasons. Among them, Jose Ramirez, Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado and Aaron Judge will get serious MVP consideration this season.

Those four, and many more, are amazing talents who are rejuvenating the game. 

But they're all second fiddle to Trout and Harper.