Harper-Arrieta Wrigley battle as good as it gets

Baseball always engages our imaginations. But that’s never more true when it is played at its highest level.

Your best against our best. Bring it.

We’ve got one of those matchups coming today: reigning National League MVP Award winner Bryce Harper vs. Jake Arrieta, who at this point is getting undersold when he’s referred to only as the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.

Arrieta is that and so much more. He’s not just the best pitcher in the game at this moment, but he’s doing things that no pitcher has ever done — at least not for as long as he has done them.

When the Brewers scored a run on Arrieta on April 28, former teammate Dan Haren reached out to console him.

“Saw you gave up a run, hang in there,” Haren tweeted. “Thinking of you.”

In terms of sheer dominance over his past 26 regular-season starts — 22-1 with an 0.85 ERA and two no-hitters — Arrieta has put his name alongside the greatest in the history of the game. So think of Harper vs. Arrieta in terms of the historic parallels.

Not just ones like Andrew McCutchen vs. Clayton Kershaw in 2014 or Miguel Cabrera vs. David Price the year before. As great as those duels were, you’ve got to dig deeper for what awaits today.

Think Pete Rose vs. Bob Gibson in 1969, the year after Gibson compiled an 1.12 ERA and helped prompt Major League officials to lower the mound. Or Joe DiMaggio vs. Bob Feller in 1947.

Maybe Walter Johnson trying to shut down Eddie Collins in 1914. Or, to put a Chicago slant on it, how about Mordecai “Three Finger Brown” against Honus Wagner in 1908, when the Cubs played at West Side Park and were managed by their first baseman, Frank Chance?

You can argue that Arrieta and Harper haven’t stood the test of time. That’s true. But there’s no denying that over the past two seasons, they are performing at levels that …

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