Bryce Harper

CHICAGO — Imagine if there were a way, on every New England Patriots possession, to prevent Tom Brady from throwing the football. Or if, somehow, a defense could find a loophole in basketball’s rules that ensured Stephen Curry couldn’t touch the ball on every offensive possession.

Both would be sound strategies. But such strategies would also hurt the appeal of those sports.

We want to see the best play. Watching opposing teams prevent that doesn’t make for great theater.

Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper tied an MLB single-game record by drawing six walks in Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs, becoming the first player to achieve the feat since Jeff Bagwell in 1999, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper was the 2015 National League MVP, but he missed out on the batting title because of Miami Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon. It would be understandable if the Nationals slugger felt like he was robbed of the achievement because of the performance-enhancing-drug revelations regarding Gordon, but he blamed only himself in recent comments. 

Anyone who came into the season thinking Bryce Harper couldn't possibly improve on his superstar-making 2015 season should know this: Harper's 2016 self is making his 2015 self look like a chump.

When the Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper does something, he does it all the way.

The latest example of this baseball truism came Thursday in the nation's capital, when Harper launched his 100th career home run off the Atlanta Braves' Julio Teheran. 

Bryce Harper hit the century mark in home runs, and he did it in style. 

The 23-year-old reigning National League MVP hit the 100th homer of his career, a grand slam, in the third inning of Thursday's 6-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.  

Washington Nationals slugger Bryce Harper is a confident man, and he's also up on all things "new school." Basically, he is baseball's Cam Newton.

It's no surprise, then, that he placed stickers with the "100" emoji on the bottom of his bats. Because of course he did.

Bryce Harper 2016.

The reigning National League MVP is picking up right where he left off in 2015.

In his first at-bat of the 2016 season, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper sent a Julio Teheran slider into the right field bleachers, giving the Nats a 1-0 lead over the Atlanta Braves on Monday in the first inning.  

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Flip your bat, pump your fist, shoot your imaginary arrow and come sit down with us for a few minutes as we investigate exactly how tired baseball is.

Like, take-a-two-hour-nap-each-afternoon tired?

Gulp-a-Red-Bull-or-two-a-day tired?

Enter-a-dance-competition tired?

"I do agree with what Bryce is saying," Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley says. "Maybe his words were a little off. It's not tired.