It only took 11 pitches Tuesday night for the most pressing question entering the Subway Series to have a possible solution. It took one swing from Brandon Nimmo — one walk-off, game-winning swing in the 10th inning — the next night to confirm that.

First, in Game 1 of the Subway Series, Max Scherzer, from the center of the Citi Field mound, rocked his hands over his head, kicked his leg and delivered a slider — the pitch he’d later pinpoint as the reason for his sluggish start —  toward Giancarlo Stanton. Catcher Francisco Alvarez had his glove positioned near the left-handed batter’s box. The slider, instead, hung over the plate.

So Stanton, a right-handed hitter, smashed the poorly located pitch 110.2 mph and an estimated 408 feet. His spot in the Yankees lineup (No. 2) was previously reserved for Aaron Judge, but amid a stretch where the Bronx Bombers don’t have the reigning MVP due to a big-toe injury, Stanton took the worries caused by Judge’s dinged-up digit and redirected them over the left-field fence.

Then, the next night, Nimmo connected on Nick Ramirez’s second pitch in the 10th inning and clobbered the ball off the right-field fence, deep enough to score Eduardo Escobar from second in the Mets’ 4-3 victory. Both swings injected life into the historic rivalry. The latter could serve as a turning point if the Mets do anything with the rest of their season.

There were plenty of concerns entering the Subway Series, which concluded Wednesday when Nimmo’s RBI double lifted the Mets past the Yankees in extra innings. Concerns about the Mets, their downward trajectory and their inability to live up to the expectations attached to their nearly $380 million payroll. Concerns about the Yankees, their injury-filled start and their offense’s inability to replicate Judge’s production.

Concern that the two-game set in June, and the historic rivalry, might fall flat.

But the Yankees and Mets — on Tuesday and Wednesday night in Queens — found ways to make those concerns seem nonexistent. They found ways to deliver the important ingredients for two thrilling games, from booming hits and a steal of home to lead changes and late-inning drama and even an ejection. A lack of perceived buzz (Gary Cohen even called Citi Field a “library” Tuesday) was followed by two games that defied the narrative.

Nimmo’s game-winning hit was even more fitting after his baserunning blunder in the seventh inning nearly cost the Mets. Starling Marte had singled with the bases loaded, knocking in a run to even the score, but Nimmo was thrown out by Yankees catcher Jose Trevino when he took a wide turn at second base and couldn’t scamper back. Nimmo also had a costly miscue in Game 1, completely whiffing on Anthony Volpe’s fly ball into center field.

The power was evident from the start of Tuesday with two homers in the opening frame (Stanton and Nimmo). DJ LeMahieu added another in the five-run fourth that ended Scherzer’s night early, too. Those were the booming hits.

Then, a sticky-stuff ejection Tuesday night added a modern twist to the rivalry. Drew Smith failed the inspection before he even threw a pitch, and he turned from umpire to umpire, Mets teammate to Mets teammate, and tried to plead otherwise. The reliever even used shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Luis Guillorme as second and third — or, at that point, fifth and sixth — options to feel his hands and support his argument. Smith later revealed that he forced an MLB official to feel his hands inside the dugout, and that official allegedly “laughed” and said there was nothing there.

That was the ejection, which was followed by Smith accepting the 10-game suspension Wednesday.

And it even had the engaging ending that prompted the YES broadcast, in the ninth inning, to ask why fans were leaving Citi Field early. Clay Holmes entered with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, and he proceeded to strike out Lindor and Marte to escape the jam.

That was some tension. That was an engaging game — and if there weren’t a pitch clock, the 3:19 game length could’ve crept closer to four hours and it still wouldn’t have felt tedious.

The next night, a pitcher’s duel between Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole through six innings turned into a bullpen duel, and that turned into an extra-innings quest for which New York team could score the automatic runner first.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa stole home against Brooks Raley, Jeff McNeil was called for a shift violation while holding Volpe on and Mark Vientos hit the hardest ball of the Mets’ season at 114.9 mph.

These teams aren’t the first-place, MLB-leading squads that have defined past editions of this rivalry. There wasn’t a monumental turning point such as Luis Castillo’s dropped pop fly in 2009, or any roots for future tension such as Mike Piazza’s grand slam and Roger Clemens’ concussion-causing pitch in 2000.

But for two nights, they managed to scrape together enough of a plot to keep the rivalry interesting. Both came down to the final innings, the final outs, the final pitches. In a spring of underwhelming New York City baseball teams, where more pressing questions than reassuring answers exist, that was more than enough.

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When the 2022 U.S. Open began last June 16 in Brookline, Mass., golf appeared to have its future defined.

LIV Golf had just completed its first event in London. A ruling had been made that PGA Tour members who defected to the Saudi-backed league still could participate in the U.S. Open. Their future beyond The Country Club? That was still to be determined, but at least, it seemed, golf had a blueprint for operating with two separate, competing entities.

When the 2023 U.S. Open begins in Los Angeles on Thursday, golf has again had its future redefined just before the major. The definition and direction of the sport has changed sharply in the past year — and, really, in the past two weeks — as LIV Golf and the Tour, along with the European DP World Tour, merged.

This is the first major since that alignment. This is the same awkward overlap as the Masters and PGA Championship and all the majors with LIV golfers last year, but with a twist.

This, for real now, is the new reality. The sharp and pointed comments, which have continued in press conferences this week, eventually will fade away, and maybe, just maybe, some of the relationships will be repaired. Golf still has a long way to go after its seismic, shocking, controversial merger, but this weekend at The Los Angeles Country Club will mark the first step.

According to Golf.com, 15 LIV Golf players are in the U.S. Open field this week, with Brooks Koepka entering off his victory at the PGA Championship last month. Collectively, those players have won 120 PGA Tour titles, with Phil Mickelson’s 45 and Dustin Johnson’s 24 inflating that number.

Though details of how the separate associations will work moving forward, and how the PGA Tour-LIV Golf overlap will unfold, remain unknown, criticism from Tour golfers ahead of the U.S. Open has continued this week. Jon Rahm called out the “non-answered questions” and “betrayal from management,” perhaps referencing when commissioner Jay Monahan pivoted from his previous comments condemning the Saudi-backed LIV Golf to instead praise the new merger as the game’s future.

Matthew Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. Open last year as LIV Golf made its introduction, said he knows “literally nothing,” too.

The puzzling overlap will continue at the British Open in July and at each of the four majors next year. Perhaps tensions will soften, though that doesn’t appear to be the case with Rory McIlroy. Perhaps the Tour, defined by loyalty and ethics amid the emergence of LIV Golf, still will contain stars admonishing everything about their rival association.

But for better or for worse, the future of golf — different from the supposed vision at last year’s U.S. Open — has arrived. It’s complicated. It’s controversial. It’s fueled by conflicting opinions and explosive comments. And its next chapter will unfold Thursday and continue through Sunday, when the ever-present friction can only get more interesting with the fluctuations of the  leaderboard.

The campaign signs that populate Western New York lawns reflected just how smoothly the Josh Allen-Stefon Diggs tenure had unfolded.

There, typically printed against a blue background, the pair of Bills players would have their last names emblazoned across the sign as if they were running for the local school board president or town mayor. The digits for the upcoming season would follow. Allen Diggs ’20. Allen Diggs ’24. They were the unstoppable — and, more importantly, inseparable — duo. When everything really clicked, season numbers were replaced on the yard signs with an infinity symbol.

They’re the centerpieces of Sean McDermott’s culture-focused bubble that the head coach and general manager Brandon Beane had crafted since bouncing from the Carolina Panthers to Buffalo. It became a foundational point for an organization trying to snap a playoff drought and return to NFL relevance. And for the past six years, through five playoff appearances and the last three AFC East titles, it worked.

But this week, McDermott’s bubble popped a bit. It doesn’t seem that severe, given that Diggs was back practicing on Wednesday — dancing and conversing with Bills teammates — and McDermott said “it’s resolved.” But on Tuesday, McDermott said he was “very concerned” about Diggs’ absence from the first day of mandatory minicamp.

The Bills canceled what was to be the final day of minicamp practice on Thursday, though other teams across the league did the same. Allen even took some of the blame for Diggs’ absence, saying, according to ESPN, “This does not work, what we’re doing here, without him.”

It was strange. It was unexpected. The wideout already received his contract extension. It’s friction that could, perhaps, become a concern.

Maybe there’s something the Jets could learn from their AFC rivals.

They’ve been in the honeymoon phase since acquiring Aaron Rodgers from the Packers, with the signal-caller and the Jets’ second-year star cornerback — Sauce Gardner — even crafting a new, um, joint handshake at offseason workouts. Rodgers has handed out compliments to Jets teammates and appeared at concerts and restaurants. The Jets even signed a handful of former teammates to create the Green Bay Jets.

If everything works out with Rodgers, they’ll make more than just yard signs for him in New York City. He’ll have orchestrated a script worthy of Broadway, crafted a reputation worthy of being in the same sentence as Broadway Joe, guided the Jets to a Super Bowl pinnacle that Gang Green fans could only dream of with anyone else at quarterback. Rodgers has that aura, comparable to what Allen and Diggs provided a city that has never won a Super Bowl.

So as the Bills sort through their situation, the Jets are one team that could directly benefit from the tension at One Bills Drive. If the Bills experience a dropoff, Gang Green would be the first team that could advance up the AFC East standings.

And if this doesn’t work out for the Bills, if the tension with Diggs becomes unfixable even with what McDermott said Wednesday, there would be plenty of front yards that need new signs. If Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets ever took a contentious turn, they’d deal with a similar honeymoon ending. The Jets could benefit from observing that, too.

With the Stade de Reims corner kick veering toward the 18-yard box, Folarin Balogun started to fade toward the Montpellier net and flashed what he could add to the United States men’s national team.

It was the 28th minute of Stade de Reims’ June 3 match, and Balogun timed a touch after the corner brushed off a teammate’s head. The net was wide open, and Balogun, using his instincts to read the space within the cluster of players, buried his 21st and final goal of the French Ligue 1 campaign — celebrating with his arms spread wide, before jogging backward toward the opposite corner.

Just two weeks prior, Balogun had committed to playing for the United States men’s national team. And the new centerpiece — an English striker who committed to play for the United States, where he was born in Brooklyn, over the country where he developed throughout his youth soccer career — could have his introduction Thursday, when the United States and Mexico meet at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas (10 p.m. ET, Paramount+).

It’s the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals, and the winner will advance to face Canada or Panama in the title game. The United States is looking to extend its unbeaten streak against Mexico to five games, though Mexico still leads the all-time series, 36-22-17.

And a central part of the USMNT’s plan moving forward, as preparation continues for the next World Cup in 2026, will be Balogun.

When Balogun committed to playing for the USMNT in May, the 21-year-old needed FIFA to approve a one-time switch from representing England (Balogun also was eligible to represent Nigeria). He was on loan to Stade de Reims from Arsenal, and he scored 21 goals (the league’s fourth-most) and added two assists during the 2022-23 French Ligue 1 campaign, including the one in his final match against Montpellier.

“It’s amazing,” Balogun told ussoccer.com in May, when asked about the potential to make his USMNT debut against Mexico. “I like to play big games, and it’s something that every young player should be aspiring to do. Having the opportunity to play against Mexico in a rivalry match would be amazing, and hopefully I can make a difference.”