​Bryce Harper is the greatest showman, as they say. Kyle Schwarber, then, might be the greatest craftsman, with a body of work so explosive that it could only be rivaled by Alfred Nobel. As the festivities got underway, Schwarber and Harper joked that the winner of the duel between the two would have to pay some sort of price to the winner. Perhaps a gold medal, and a certificate from the Schwarbel Committee to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of Dingerology.Wilson Contreras got the festivities started, with a solid 13 homers on his 20 swings. He took a few pitches before his last swing, wanting to make sure he got the most of the magenta ball (with which you get to swing until you stop hitting dingers). He eventually took a hack at it, but didn’t quite clear the fences; no bonus bombs for him. Jordan Walker was the first to send one into the greenery of the batter’s eye; he started off strong, faded down the stretch, then bounced back to match Contreras’ 13. The triskaidekaphobes were shuddering, but everyone else at the Bank was having a grand old time. Jac Caglianone tried to jac a few taters, but couldn’t quite find his swing, with only two homers in his first 10 swings. He then proceeded to eat his spinach, flinging a few moonshots into the upper decks in right, and one over the batter’s eye and into Ashburn Alley. His total of eight wouldn’t be enough to send him ahead, but he acquitted himself well with some of the finest gopher balls the first round had to offer. Munetaka Murakami, of the Junior Circuit’s Chicago club, surpassed Caglianone by one.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBen Rice went fifth, and fell short with a total of seven shots. Junior Caminero went after and put up a dozen.And then it was time for the hometown heroes. Hat backwards, Schwarber strode up to the plate to a standing ovation. His first swing lined the ball to left-center, his second was a shallow fly. His third was a grounder, and his fourth was a foul. His sixth, however, sailed into the familiar territory of the right field seats in CBP. He soon found his groove, with six homers through twelve swings. With four swings left, he had eight homers, and two more needed to beat out Murakami and put himself in line to advance. His next swing tied Murakami. Two swings later, he surpassed him with a shot into the second deck, an area littered with more Schwarbomb landing sites than the moon has craters. He didn’t send the bonus ball into the seats, and so ended his first round with an even ten.Bryce Harper had the encore, with Schwarber’s ten as his number to beat. The dream of a Harper-Schwarber final came to a premature end; instead, we were treated to the high yet heartbreaking drama of Bryce and Kyle reaching out for the same ring. Harper’s first swing went foul, his second went into the glove of a waiting fielder. His third went out to center, and did not have the distance. But his fourth went into the right field seats. Ni