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The Best Athletes in Every Pro Sport

It's always fun to sit around with a few friends, particularly with some beers in hand, and debate who is the best player on your favorite team. It's often very contentious and full of stats when speculating who the MVP of the league will be, or who is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in a sport. I will throw my opinions into the ring and attempt to give who I think are the best athletes in most of the major pro sports.

Starting with baseball, there has been a pretty clearcut best player in baseball since he came into the league about 6 years ago - Mike Trout. Trout is an al-around star who has won the MVP twice since he came into the league, and has never been outside of the top 5 in MVP voting. He is stellar at the plate, being near the top of the league in home runs, walks, batting average and (most importantly) on base percentage every year. On defense, he is speedy and has seemingly unlimited range in center field, always diving for balls and ending up on highlight reels when he robs people of home runs over the wall. For his consistent greatness and raw talent, Mike Trout is a well-accepted best baseball player in the world.

Now for hockey. Actually, I don't know anything about hockey and don't follow it, so just never mind. On to the next sport.

In NBA basketball, there is hot debate about who is the best player as the talent level is so high and the players are so good at basketball that every game seems like a theatrical performance. However, one player stands above the rest due to his consistent dominance over the competition the last decade, LeBron James. LeBron can almost single-handedly carry his team to the Finals every year, as he has been to the NBA Finals an unbelievable 10 straight years with 3 different teams, winning 5 championships. Even in his late 30s, he can still leap higher, run faster, and be more physical than most of the younger players in the leagues. It's pretty crazy to watch. LeBron is often in the conversation of GOAT with Michael Jordan. While I don't think he's as dominant as MJ was in his prime, he's the best player of the current generation.

On to golf - there is actually a World Golf Rankings that ranks every player in the world, so there is an objective answer to this question. Though the player ranked #1 is sometimes due to a hot streak or fluke season, I do agree with who they consider to be the top player in the world - Dustin Johnson. Dustin is at the height of his game right now, and is completely dialed in. He just won the Masters tournament, and has won 3 other tournaments this season. He is driving the ball far and straight, and his irons have been so crisp. He hasn't even had to be that good of a putter lately as he has been hitting in so close to the hole on his approach shots, although his putting has been great too. He passes the eye test ad the best golfer in the world right now.

Now on to NFL, which is my favorite sport. I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan but I don't think it is biased when I say that the Chiefs' quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is clearly the best player in football. In his 2 years as starter, he was league MVP in 2018 and Super Bowl MVP in 2019 - the other quarterbacks to have both of those honors on their resumes are all in the Hall of Fame. Mahomes is only 25, but he may be the most talented player to ever play in the NFL, and already debatably the greatest ever. From his raw arm strength, ability to no look pass, and his creativeness, watching him play is like watching the most fun version of backyard football, and it is always an amazing performance. There aren't many people who wouldn't consider him the best player in the game, and there's a reason why he just signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history, a 10-year contract worth over $500M total.