There’s never a wrong time for a reality check, so let’s take one on the status of Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.
At the moment, Betts has leapfrogged the broad shoulders of Bogaerts and seemingly landed light years ahead. When a player starts getting fitted for a superstar’s cape and hear comparisons to Andrew McCutchen, it’s never a bad idea to slow down and catch one’s breath.
Remember, a year ago, Bogaerts was the budding, can’t-miss superstar and Betts was a promising second baseman in Double A.
If we were to flash forward a year — and five, 10, 15 years from now — how many times will we have flip-flopped on their rankings?