The pitchers are ready to dig a moat around the mound. They feel under siege. There are limits on mound visits. There are limits on time between pitches in the minor leagues. There are limits on warm-up tosses between innings. The strike zone has tightened up. The baseballs have wings. Sean Doolittle, a Washington Nationals relief pitcher, once heard a proposal limiting how many relievers can pitch in one inning, just to make sure the game moves along at a brisk pace.

As if the city itself weren't so damn romantic. As if its First Friday Art Walks didn't include paintings of lush wine bottles and mysterious women. As if its sweaty love for its own historical claims of being the oldest European settlement in America weren't already enticing. Finding myself on the self-obsessed beaches of St. Augustine, Florida, it was enough to make a young writer wax poetic - even after having been dumped recently.

"I had an uncle who lived in Palo Alto. He lived there for 14 years and when he moved out he realized he had never talked to his neighbors even once." The speaker was Jello Biafra, the former singer for punk rock stalwarts the Dead Kennedys, and he was holding forth on that almost distinctly California weirdness where "the neighborhood" is more a premise than a real thing.It should be said now that it's a weirdness I kind of like, coming from New York, where neighborhoods had been like religions.

High above the rest of Medellín, a group of breakdancers pull off insane stunts. A top rock dissolves into air chairs. Crazy Face, the one with the braces, jackhammers around on one hand, elbow tucked in under his ribs, spinning himself dizzy. He finishes by popping a few flares while Method Man's music booms out into the valley. view overlooking MedellínSource: Wesley TomaselliThe view overlooking Medellín from the top of the stairs, where the dancers perform.

Last week, we asked: Should immigrants be forced to forsake their homelands? You answered, and here are your thoughts, edited for clarity.

Ira Brown is used to sticking out. It could be for his high-impact, up-tempo game on the basketball court. Or as a homeless Black kid raised by white adoptive parents in the Houston suburbs. Or, most certainly now, as an undersize power forward on Japan’s national basketball team. But in the past seven years, the naturalized Japanese citizen has become a basketball institution in his adopted home.

The hottest team in hockey was written off before this season even started. Now, after a 4-1 series dismantling of Winnipeg — the club that many hockey minds believed was the most talented of the four conference finalists — the fledgling Vegas Golden Knights have reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. It’s a stunning sports development akin to Leicester City’s Premier League glory of 2016 and Loyola-Chicago’s recent push to the NCAA Final Four.

Staring down another lonely off-season, the Boston Red Sox campaign was about to end, courtesy of a four-game sweep by the hated Yankees. For 86 years, Boston had failed to capture a World Series title and now, down three games to none in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 - with New York closer Mariano Rivera on the hill - hope was dwindling. Then Dave Roberts got to first base.Roberts hadn't played in 10 days, but when he came on to pinch run, the tension shifted.

Beyond the baggy knickers, one only needs to study grainy video footage of 19th-century pitchers for proof that baseball was once a completely different game. The exact date of baseball’s inception remains up for debate, but the sport’s purpose is agreed upon. Baseball was a gentleman’s game — a friendly playground pastime meant to spawn camaraderie via exercise. And the pitcher? He was merely a delivery system.

Susan Del Percio is a New York-based Republican strategist. This is her first column for OZY.When writing your first op-ed for a media outlet, as I am now, you try to show that you are smart and thoughtful; you really try to "wow" them. I thought I had a great idea - my first paragraph went as follows:Want to figure out 2020? Look no further than the 2018 New York primaries. There's a progressive celebrity challenging the incumbent Democratic governor.