That was a powerful ending to the season

In a season where major-league hitters set a new record for total home runs, it's fitting that the final week was highlighted by some amazing achievements in slugging.

We'll run through these prodigious power-hitting accomplishments, as well as the rest of the biggest trending story-lines in fantasy baseball, as we send off the 2017 regular season:

 What a year for Giancarlo Stanton. With two home runs on Thursday he moved to 59 on the season, tying Babe Ruth's 1921 campaign for ninth on the all-time list. Stanton's total is the highest since Barry Bonds set the all-time mark in 2001, and he still add to it before the end of the weekend. Incredibly, 38 of Stanton's bombs have come since the beginning of July.

Stanton's trade candidacy will likely be a major storyline this offseason. Regardless of where he ends up, he should be one of the first players off the board in fantasy drafts next spring.

 Right up there with him will be Aaron Judge, who set a new rookie home run record with his 49th and 50th blasts on Monday, then padded it with No. 51 on Thursday. Mark McGwire held the previous MLB record at 49.

Following a monstrous first half, Judge endured a bit of a slump in August, but his bat has been reignited in September with 14 homers (including four multi-homer games), 31 RBI and an excellent 30-to-27 K/BB ratio. He's back on track as the Yankees look ahead to a Wild Card showdown against the Twins on Tuesday.

 Judge has enjoyed a spectacular final month, but it can't quite measure up to that of J.D. Martinez, who has been simply unconscious since joining the Diamondbacks ahead of the deadline. By going deep in five of his last seven games, Martinez has tied Ralph Kiner's 68-year-old record for home runs by an NL hitter in September (16).

Martinez missed all of April and the first 11 days of May due to a foot injury suffered in spring training, but has made up for lost time with an astounding 45 jacks in 112 games, including 29 in 60 contests since coming over to Arizona on July 18th. He's set to cash in bigtime as an impending free agent.

He might one day join these prodigious sluggers in chasing home run records, but for now Bryce Harper is just happy to be back in time for the playoffs. Sidelined since August 12th by a knee injury, he returned to the Nationals lineup on Tuesday, finishing 0-for-2 with a walk. Harper sat out Thursday and returned on Friday night but went 0-for-4 with a couple strikeouts.

The Nats will be feeling a lot more confident heading into the playoffs if Harper can find his rhythm in these next couple games.

 The Twins, too, are hoping their top slugger can find his timing over the weekend as they gear up for Tuesday's Wild Card Game in New York. Miguel Sano hadn't played since August 19th due to a stress reaction in his shin, but pronounced himself ready to play on Friday, and appeared that night as a pinch hitter. He's in Saturday's starting lineup as DH.

Minnesota has incredibly been one of baseball's top-scoring teams over the past six weeks even without their All Star third baseman. If he comes out of these tuneup games OK, he could be a big difference-maker against the Yankees.

 Matt Cain first arrived in the big leagues in 2005 – a sturdily built 20-year-old right-hander who threw the living hell out of the ball. From 2006 through 2013, he basically never missed a start, routinely logging 200-plus innings with strong results. He was the definition of a workhorse, and the Giants rode him, hard.

It took a toll. By the time he reached 30, Cain's arm had pretty much given out. His signature velocity had gone amiss, and his health was a constant concern. On Wednesday, he announced he'll be hanging up his cleats after his final start of the season on Saturday, one day ahead of his 33rd birthday.

Neither he nor the Giants likely harbor regrets. Cain contributed significantly to two World Championships, and earned well over $100 million during his 12-year career with San Francisco. Kudos to a great career.

This was a year full of promise for Danny Duffy. Following an outstanding 2016 campaign, he signed a five-year extension and was tabbed as Kansas City's Opening Day starter. The hope was that he'd settle in as a bona fide No. 1 starter.

But it didn't quite play out that way. His numbers sagged across most categories. He spent time in August and September on the disabled list. He had some issues off the field, with news of a DUI charge arising a month ago. And now, he'll end the season by undergoing surgery on his elbow.

As such operations go, this one is relatively minor, intended to remove loose bodies from the area and hopefully prevent further issues like the inflammation that sidelined him for a month. Duffy is expected to be good to go in spring, and will once again head into next season as the team's de facto ace.

When Cain arrived on the scene a dozen years ago, his 93 MPH fastball was a rarity. In his rookie season his velocity ranked sixth among starters. This year it would've ranked 20th.

Lucas Giolito is a specimen of the new breed. His heater frequently flashing 93 feels routine in an age where premium velo is the norm. The White Sox indicated on Tuesday that the 23-year-old would be forgoing his final start this weekend, thus concluding a successful first season in Chicago. Following his late-August promotion, the righty posted a 2.38 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over seven starts.

He should be locked in for a rotation spot next spring. We wouldn't be surprised to see his velocity and strikeout rate up in the early going.

It wasn't such a successful season for Matt Harvey in his first year back after thoracic outlet surgery. The right-hander was roughed up again on Friday night, surrendering four runs over four innings in his last start of 2017. He finishes with a 6.70 ERA in 92 2/3 innings.

Despite the horrendous results, the Mets indicated earlier in the week that they still plan to tender him a contract through arbitration in the off season.

The hope is that the 28-year-old will get back some semblance of his game as he moves further away from surgery. Hopefully that's the case. He's got a long way to go.   

That'll do it for this season of the Week That Was. To those who have checked out these weekly recaps regularly throughout the year, thanks for reading!