$MVP

Nobody signed him. He just showed up.

A ball got hit over the wall in the fourth inning and a dog came back with it. Then he did it again. By the seventh he was standing in center field like he'd always been there, and nobody had the heart to tell him otherwise.

Turns out the perfect outfielder was a dog the whole time. Fetching isn't a skill you teach him — it's the entire personality. You cannot hit a ball over a creature whose only ambition in life is to go get the ball.

The problem is the giving back.

He catches everything. He returns nothing. He stole second in the third inning and was later seen carrying the base into the bleachers. Nobody has recovered it. The groundskeeper has stopped asking.

They gave him a number and a hat and made it official, mostly because the alternative was admitting a dog had taken the job. He wears the 4. He robs home runs. He takes the base home.

Most Valuable Pup.