Will Bryce Harper end up with the Cubs? A comprehensive free agency guide.

On the morning after the World Series, the most anticipated free agency in baseball since, say, Alex Rodriguez peddled his wares in the winter of 2000-01 finally began. Bryce Harper was drafted first overall by the Washington Nationals at 17, brought to the majors at 19, won an MVP award at 23 - and now is free to walk at 26. For all the time he spent as a National - 927 games over seven seasons - the rest of baseball treated his career like a clock ticking toward the inevitable.

"Everybody knew I was going to be a free agent seven years ago because everybody talked about it seven years ago," Harper said late in the season. "Nobody talked about this or that or the other. It was: When is Bryce going to leave? In seven years he's going to go here. Or seven years he's going to go there ...

"Why worry about it? What was the point?"

Now, the worrying - and the speculating - can really begin. Technically, all 30 teams can negotiate with Harper and his agent, Scott Boras, for Harper's services, as of Monday morning. Realistically, though, only a handful of teams will be able to afford a contract that may threaten Giancarlo Stanton's 13-year, $325-million deal as the most lucrative in the history of American sports.

Here's a look at the top contenders - with an acknowledgment that there's no telling how or when this will end up.

Chicago Cubs

Here are players who can play the outfield under contract with the Cubs in 2019: Jason Heyward, Albert Almora Jr., Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist and Ian Happ. More than that, all but the 37-year-old Zobrist is under club control through at least the 2021 season. And Anthony Rizzo is their forever first baseman, with a pair of affordable club options that carry him through 2021.

This is a team that has room for Bryce Harper?

Well, consider the sting of what the Cubs are dealing with now. From Aug. 2 to the end of the regular season, they scored one or zero runs 18 times - including in the 163rd game of the year, the tiebreaker against Milwaukee, a 3-1 loss that gave the Brewers the National League Central title. They followed that up by scoring one run in 13 innings, losing the wild card game to Colorado. Their offense was broken.

Harper could help fix it. In 17 career games and 79 plate appearances at Wrigley Field (small sample alert) he has hit .333 with a 1.106 OPS. Despite their end-of-the-season struggles, Chicago is set up to win for years - financially, because they print money, and intellectually, because their front office of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer is among the best in the game. The Cubs played to 94 percent capacity in 2018 - trailing only Boston and St. Louis - so Harper would love the ballpark buzz 81 times a year. Plus, it should be lost on no one that he named his dog "Wrigley" - an expert troll job, for sure, but one that has some meaning.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Under President of Baseball Operations Andrew Freidman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi, the winners of back-to-back National League pennants have avoided the mega-contract, almost as a rule. After reaching the World Series for the second straight season, will they see much reason to deviate from plans that have worked so well?

But with a championship still eluding them, they could find themselves in an identity crisis, and Harper might fit. Los Angeles is near to his family's Las Vegas home, back on his beloved West Coast, and the kind of major market so many believe will draw Harper in the end.

Plus, though the Dodgers traded for Manny Machado to help them make this World Series run, Zaidi made clear to reporters early on that they do not plan to re-sign him. After all, Corey Seager is returning from Tommy John surgery at some point in 2019 to play shortstop. They do not have much need in the infield, with Justin Turner signed to play third for two more years. And for all Yasiel Puig's intrigue and Matt Kemp's resurgence and Joc Pederson's power, Harper is a far more productive player than any of them. Plus, if they want to, the Dodgers can afford anything.

New York Yankees

They are included here because they have to be included here. Just consider the swarm of New York baseball scribes who have descended upon Harper any time he has played the Yankees, and his arrival in the Bronx can seem inevitable. When the Yankees traded for Stanton last offseason, that destiny was sidelined, because New York had to take on Stanton's $325-million contract, plus it already had Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks as under-control outfielders, with promising Clint Frazier on the way. Even with the designated hitter spot, that seems crowded.

Keep in mind, though: the 100-win Yankees traded for an outfielder (Andrew McCutchen) down the stretch, so their lineup's not overly clogged up (though Frazier was hurt). Plus, Stanton can opt out of his contract after the 2020 season, which would potentially lop off the final seven years and $218 million of that deal - money that could be replaced by Harper's salary.

But the biggest issue here: Does Harper want to play in New York? That has always been the assumption, but people who have spent time with him over his entire career aren't sure he wants the day-to-day scrutiny of being a highly paid Yankee.

Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia has always been the team to watch this winter, with money reportedly stockpiled and an ownership group ready to spend - see the $18 million they tossed Tommy Hunter's way last offseason, just because. Harper will obviously cost much more than that, but the Phillies will be able to pay him. The question, of course, is whether they want to do so.

The potential impediment: The Phillies have always been associated with the other marquee member of this year's class, Machado. Their president, Andy MacPhail, knows Machado well because he was overseeing the Baltimore Orioles when they drafted Machado third overall in 2010 - two picks behind Harper. Earlier this fall, when he was asked about the possibility of signing Machado and Harper, MacPhail implied the Phillies would not be able to afford quite that much.

So if they whiff on Machado, the Phillies could chase Harper, who has reportedly already chatted with former National and Phillie Jayson Werth about life at Citizens Bank Park. Harper would certainly thrive there offensively. He has 14 career home runs at CBP, the most of any opposing ballpark, and a .930 OPS in 50 career games there.

San Francisco Giants

The one team with three World Series titles this decade can't check the "win-now" box for Harper. But with an as-yet-to-be-named general manager on the way and the financial security brought by a devoted fan base and a first-rate ballpark, that can be corrected.

What's clear: After three straight years of filling that park closer to capacity than any team in baseball, San Francisco fell off in 2018, when it also won fewer games than any Giants team since 2008. For the Giants to continue as a financial juggernaut, they need another box-office draw.

Harper would fit. Hunter Pence's contract is up. If the expansive right field at AT&T Park proves too much to cover, Harper could play left. He could move to first base when Brandon Belt's contract expires after 2021.

Performance-wise, there is the matter of Harper's history at AT&T, a notorious pitcher's park (another small-sample alert): 19 games and 85 plate appearances in which he has hit .164 with a .588 OPS - the lowest of any park in which he has at least 20 plate appearances. Still, that includes two homers, and it's not difficult to see Harper as the modern-day Bonds: a left-handed hitter splashing balls into McCovey Cove. The Giants need to pivot from their old days. Harper could help them do that.

Washington Nationals

Over and over down the stretch, Harper said he wanted to stay in D.C., but wasn't sure if he fit into the Lerner family's plans. However calculated that message might have seemed - and with Scott Boras pulling strings, there's a chance everything is calculated - it put Harper in a safe place entering this winter. By saying he wanted to stay and placing the onus on ownership to pay him, Harper ensured he won't be the villain, even if he goes. By remaining silent, and treating his last home game like an unofficial farewell, complete with lengthy MASN interview shown on the video board, ownership seemed to send a message of its own.

But the Nationals can make room for Harper in their outfield if they need to do so, and whatever competitive balance tax concerns they might have, they can make room for him financially, too. General Manager Mike Rizzo has said, over and over, that Harper is "in our plans," someone he wants to have on the roster long-term. No one with the team has confirmed the extent of the Nationals' interest, or exactly how far beyond their historical boundaries they would be willing to reach for his services. He can fit if they want him. The question, at this point, is exactly how much they want him at all.

The Field

As with all prominent Boras-led free agencies, you can bet a "mystery team" will enter the Harper sweepstakes before it is over. The Texas Rangers could be a fit, with money to spend and a history of spending it - and with a ballpark suited to Harper's swing. But they seem to be in a rebuild, and a big signing like that might not fit with their plans. Some people around the St. Louis Cardinals are buzzing about their potential as a landing spot, and they could have the money to spend. Harper has never mentioned the Cardinals in his "off-the-cuff" lists of potential landing spots, and has always been geared more toward the bigger coastal cities - though his understanding of baseball history, and St. Louis' penchant for filling the Busch Stadium, could compel him to look the Cardinals' way.

Harper loves Fenway Park, but the Boston Red Sox outfield is plenty crowded already - you can't move Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. or Andrew Benintendi at this point. Barring a change in position, the Red Sox don't seem like a fit. The Houston Astros had interest in Harper at the trade deadline, according to people familiar with those discussions, and Harper is a clear offensive upgrade on most of their outfielders besides George Springer. Some around the game have floated the Arizona Diamondbacks as a possibility due to their proximity to Harper's Las Vegas home, but the Diamondbacks reportedly plan to shed money this winter, not spend it. Sure, anything could happen. But in this Harper sweepstakes, the odds seemed stacked against "the field."