So let’s even it up some. Not by sniping at Harper, even though he’s hitting .232 for the Philadelphia Phillies and tied for the major league lead in strikeouts through Tuesday. But by evaluating and praising The One Who Stayed. In a miserable Washington Nationals season, Strasburg is a bright spot. Pause in the gloom to nod his way.

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What Strasburg has done, especially since June 2015, as the Nats have won 71 of his past 99 starts (.717), is as remarkable as it has been little noted. In 12 starts this season, he has been the second-best pitcher in baseball, as measured by wins above replacement (WAR).

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What lies ahead for Strasburg at age 30 may be startling, too, and of huge importance to the Nats, for whom he probably will pitch through 2023. Since returning from the injured list last August, Strasburg seems to be morphing into a polished, savvy veteran pitcher who is as effective now as he ever has been, despite a fastball that, at least by velocity (93.4 mph), has calmed to slightly more than the major league average (92.6).

No one can discuss Strasburg without mentioning “all his injuries.” Last season, with two trips to the injured list, he went three months without a win, May 27 to Aug. 27. That’s when the Nats collapsed. So the Nats’ dependence on Strasburg’s durability — or lack of it — is true. But from the start of 2013, Strasburg’s first full year after The Shutdown, through last season, he made 81.3 percent of what would be a full load of 33 starts a year. You would like better, but that’s pretty good. Over that same time frame, Harper played in 81.1 percent of Washington’s games. Feel free to win that bar bet.

Here’s your reward for digesting so much stat spinach: Who has the higher career WAR? It’s Strasburg, according to FanGraphs, 33.1 to 31.9. And it’s Strasburg, according to Baseball-Reference’s method, 29.0 to 27.9. So feel free to romp to victory in that bar bet as well.

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Harper is four years younger, so he should end with bigger career numbers. But you never know.

Strasburg’s decision in 2017 to throw every pitch from the stretch may be a career enhancer. The longer he has done it, the more he has kept his mechanics compact and his delivery balanced. His bad habit of falling off the mound to his left has decreased, which helps his consistency and location and, over time, also may reduce strain on his arm, back and neck. Also, with runners on base, he isn’t psyched out.

Because of Strasburg’s history of visiting the IL, even in years he still finishes with a 15-4 record, it goes against the grain to say that he’s ever on pace for anything, except an appointment with “ouch.” Let’s not jinx him, but just to illustrate what he has done this year, if he matched his career high of 34 starts — which he will never do as long as the sky is blue — he would have 278 strikeouts.

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Remember, this was the season when Strasburg supposedly was going to lose velocity — his fastball ticked down when he came back from the IL last year — and we would realize that his prime was over.

But Strasburg has had to adjust before. When he arrived, his fastball averaged 97.3 mph. After Tommy John surgery, he has not thrown as hard. What we have seen is a second career by Strasburg after the original dreams from his 14-strikeout debut were taken from him. After he returned, his fastball has averaged 94.8 to 95.8 in every season, until this year.

Yet he seems to have reframed his career. Could he be a hair better? Thus far he has the highest strikeouts-per-nine-inning ratio of his career (11.16). He still gives up few home runs. His walks are close to his lowest ever (2.28 per nine innings). His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is a brilliant 2.66. That means his ERA probably will trend down from its current 3.32. His best FIP was 2.72 in 2017, when his ERA was 2.52.

Why is this so important for the Nats’ future? Because Strasburg is having this outstanding start as a total pitcher, not a fastball flinger. Okay, he was always smart. But he was also stubborn. And his fastball was always central to his pitching identity, even if his change-up was his most devastating pitch.

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But the 6-foot-5, 235-pound right-hander always keeps learning. Since 2011, his fastball usage has trended down from 73.4 percent to 50.7 percent. He gradually has increased the use of his curveball — his most effective pitch — from an average of 13.4 percent to 30.9 percent. Use of his dastardly change-up has ticked up from 13.2 percent to 18.4.

Back when Strasburg had Tommy John surgery, the only predictions not made about him were that (1) he would have a long career and (2) his wipeout off-speed pitches might be thrown just as much as his fastball and make him as effective in his 30s as he was in his 20s.

We’ll see how his “30s thing” works out. But he’s pitching as well as he ever has, though doing it with what appears to be less strain on his arm.

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Long ago, analytics guru Bill James invented a “similarity score” method to find careers that mirrored each other statistically. A score of 1,000 would be a perfect match. In major league history, the pitcher most similar to Strasburg — with a high 959.4 score — is Max Scherzer. How are the 30s working out for Mad Max, who came to Washington at age 30? In five seasons, he has won two Cy Young Awards.

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Others in the top six Strasburg Similars include David Price, going strong at 33 after helping the Red Sox win the World Series last year, and David Cone, who won 20 games at age 35. Roy Halladay, whom Strasburg once said was his personal model as a pitcher, was 93-44 from 30 through 34. Jered Weaver and Roy Oswalt had more good seasons but faded by 32 or 33.

Those comparisons, taken together, might be a tipoff that, even with more IL trips along the way, Strasburg might still be excellent for quite a long . . . no, don’t even say it.

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While Strasburg keeps finding ways to adapt, Harper has not. His strikeout ratio and his contact rate — the percentage of times he hits the ball when he swings — have been in a sharp four-year decline. His whiffs have increased (from 18.7 percent to 20.1 to 24.3 to 31.5 this year) while his contact has diminished (from 79.2 percent to 74.8 to 71.1 to 65.7 this year). The Nats noticed that progression.

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Strasburg has coped with a career-threatening injury at age 22 and a permanent loss of a fastball that once touched 101 or even 102 mph. Told that his college change-up was junk, he developed one of the best change-ups ever seen. With age and mileage, his fastball has tapped the brakes, but his pitching has stayed as excellent as ever as he used his curveball more and in different sequences.

Strasburg, a workout freak, has experimented with conditioning programs to try to stay healthier. By pitcher standards, he can hit and has won a Silver Slugger. Once easy prey for base stealers, he has improved his move and time to the plate. His postseason performance consistently has improved, including a 0.00 ERA in two starts against the Cubs in 2017. He never makes excuses, never criticizes a teammate, never seeks the limelight, returns from every injury and never asks for praise. And his next victory will be his 100th as a National.

Next time he walks off the mound after a powerful start and gives a tiny tip of his cap to the Nationals crowd, it’s worth remembering: Stephen Strasburg is the one who stayed.