Teams have committed about $1.3 billion to free agents this offseason, and that’s before Chris Davis and Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon and Johnny Cueto by themselves push the total to nearly $2 billion. All said, baseball is going to smash its free agent record of around $1.9 billion set in 2013 by many hundreds of millions of dollars.

All of this is merely a placeholder in the record book, because the revolution is coming, and people across front offices are equally excited and horrified by it, even though it’s not for another three years. There is a historic confluence of talent and money coming, and it’s going to influence every single move of consequence made not just today but following the 2016 and ’17 seasons, too.

The free agent Class of 2018, as it stands, is a collection of players so good it seems impossible one market could absorb them all at once. Both MVPs from this season, Bryce Harper and Josh Donaldson, will hit free agency after the 2018 season. So can the greatest pitcher of this generation, Clayton Kershaw, along with the current American League Cy Young winner (Dallas Keuchel), two of the finest arms in the big leagues (Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey) and the pitcher who just signed the biggest-money contract ever for a pitcher (David Price).

Like Kershaw and Price, Jason Heyward in 2018 can opt out of the deal he agreed to Friday for $185 million. Don’t like him in the outfield? Andrew McCutchen and Adam Jones will be available. Prefer an infielder? Manny Machado will be there and, like Harper and Fernandez, will be just 26 years old. If Heyward gets multiple $200 million offers at 26, three years from now, with revenues growing by nearly $1 billion a year, Harper, Machado and Fernandez may get a billion combined themselves.

And that’s not even including those likely to come off options that offseason. The Indians’ deal with Michael Brantley ends in 2018 at latest, as does the Red Sox’s with Craig Kimbrel. And if you need a closer and don’t like him, there will be Zach Britton, Trevor Rosenthal, Andrew Miller, Jeurys Familia, Glen Perkins, Kelvin Herrera, A.J. Ramos, Carter Capps, David Robertson and plenty more.

Why bother with closers when so many more starters are available? Prefer a veteran? Adam Wainwright can be had. Young power arm? Garrett Richards is a potential ace, Patrick Corbin and Shelby Miller at the core of the Diamondbacks’ attempted resurgence, and Drew Smyly central to the Rays’ plans. If J.A. Happ is worth $12 million a year now, imagine what someone of his ilk – a back-end type – will fetch among the multi-billion-dollar madness of the 2018 offseason.

Need bats? Nelson Cruz, Hunter Pence and Adrian Gonzalez are the sorts of veterans who could cash in once more. A.J. Pollock and Charlie Blackmon could strike gold for the first time. Dee Gordon is the sort of player every team wants. Ditto Brian Dozier. Yasmani Grandal and Derek Norris provide two attractive catching options, Adeiny Hechavarria and Jean Segura the same at shortstop. Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez have the sort of swings that looks like they’ll never falter.

View photos Clayton Kershaw could be just one of many star free agents in 2018. (AP Photo) More

There are more, plenty more, maybe 50 players altogether that could cram into the top 25 this season, and many evaluators consider this year’s the best in at least a decade. And none of this includes the international stars from Japan and Cuba and Korea who happen to choose 2018 to join the major leagues.

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