No, Bryce Harper is still not a better baseball player than Mike Trout.

Being a baseball fan is a funny thing. Fandom can cloud your judgement, and subjective statements can be mistaken for fact.

Exhibit A: this article by self-proclaimed Nationals fan Matt Weyrich (who I’m sure is a very nice person), specifically this excerpt:

“While the Angels’ center fielder has accumulated more accolades and accomplishments over the past four years, Harper has put together the more dominant single season.”

No. Wrong.

Look, Bryce Harper is a phenomenal baseball player. He fully deserved to win the 2015 NL MVP, and there’s a decent chance he’ll end up as baseball’s first $400 million dollar man. He is a once in a generation-type player, and deserves to be regarded as such. Still, there’s a case to be made for 2 of Trout’s first 4 seasons as being better than the year Harper just posted.

To the numbers!

Per FanGraphs, Mike Trout has posted the following WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in each of his first four full seasons in the bigs:

For comparison purposes, Bryce Harper’s WAR in 2015 was 9.5. Based on this metric alone, Harper exceeded Trout’s last two seasons but fell short of both Trout’s 2012 and 2013 seasons. Thus, the statement that “Harper has put together the more dominant single season” is factually wrong when advanced statistical analysis is taken into account.

Taking it a step further, Trout’s 2012 and 2013 seasons are 2 of the 7 most dominant single seasons of the last 30 years, according to FanGraphs. Of the top 30 single most productive seasons by WAR since 1986, Trout lands on the list 3 times, placing 5th, 7th, and 30th. Harper’s 2015 is 19th, for comparison.

In broader historical context, Trout’s 2012 and 2013 seasons are two of the top 5 seasons ever for players aged 20–23 (source). On this list, Trout trails only Ted Williams (who occupies the top 2 spots), and falls squarely in between some guy named Ty Cobb with the 3rd and 5th most dominant seasons by WAR of all time. Harper’s 2015 season is 16th all time, which is damn impressive in his own right.

In short, while Harper put together a season for the ages in 2015, Trout’s 2012 and 2013 seasons are two of the all-time greatest seasons in baseball history and deserve to be regarded as such.

For baseball fans, the next decade plus should be a lot of fun as we’re watching two players who could and should go down as two of the greatest to ever play the game.