September 22 (2016-09-22) – December 8, 2016 (2016-12-08)
Pitch is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman and Rick Singer, that aired on Fox from September 22 to December 8, 2016. The series was commissioned on May 10, 2016.[1]
On May 1, 2017, Fox canceled the series after one season.[2]
Plot
The series, set in the confines of Major League Baseball, sets its focus on a young pitcher noted for her screwball pitch[3][4] who becomes the first woman to play in the Major Leagues[5] when she is called up by the San Diego Padres.[6]
Cast
Main
Kylie Bunbury as Genevieve "Ginny" Baker, a rookie pitcher and the first woman to play in Major League Baseball
Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Michael "Mike" Lawson, the Padres' captain[7] and veteran catcher who is nearing the end of a Hall of Fame career
Mark Consuelos as Oscar Arguella, the Padres' general manager
Mo McRae as Blip Sanders, a Padres outfielder who is a friend and former minor league teammate of Ginny's
Meagan Holder as Evelyn Sanders, Blip's wife and Ginny's friend
Ginny Baker becomes the first woman to play in Major League Baseball when she is called up from the minor leagues. Her first start is a disaster, with Ginny throwing just 10 pitches (all balls) and not recording an out. After the owner forces the team's manager to keep her on, Ginny receives inspiration from both her father and the team's catcher and records the win in her second start. A series of flashbacks shows her journey from Little League to the present. It is revealed that her father actually died six years earlier in a car accident.
Ginny's presence is an extreme distraction for the team. A video surfaces of Al making misogynist comments about Ginny. In flashbacks, we see how Ginny met her agent.
In a series of flashbacks, we learn something new and unexpected about one of Ginny's past relationships. After the Padres are involved in a beanball fight, Ginny draws closer to being accepted as one of the guys.
Baker is named to the All-Star team by the Commissioner, but surrenders a home run to Salvador Pérez. Her mom makes an uncomfortable appearance and it is revealed in a flashback that Baker's mom was having an affair with another man while Baker's father was still alive. Mike Lawson contemplates a career after baseball, while Oscar works covertly to sign a much sought-after Cuban refugee catcher who may force Lawson out of a job.
In the final hours before the Major League trade deadline, Ginny fears Blip may not remain with the Padres. Meanwhile, Oscar is dealing with an abscessed tooth. In the end, Blip is not traded and stays with the Padres. It is revealed in a series of flashbacks that Ginny's best friend's father was the drunk driver of the other car during the accident that killed her father.
After Amelia closes a major deal for Ginny with Nike, Ginny ditches the signing party to attend a more down-to-earth party with a waitress she met at the Nike event. Ginny then blows the Nike deal when she is captured on video donning a rival company's sneakers and leaping into a pool. Amelia sees this as a cry for help and Ginny admits she's having trouble with all the fame baseball has brought her.
Ginny deals with the aftermath of nude photos that she sent to an old boyfriend being leaked online, but the team comes up with a way to distract the public and lessen the impact. Lawson is informed that the Padres are bringing up the young Cuban sensation Livan Duarte, dubbed the team's "catcher of the future." Luongo angers Lawson by saying the team wants him to learn to play first base. Flashbacks show Mike living a troubled childhood with a single mom who used him to con people.
It is approaching August 31, the last day players can be traded and remain playoff-eligible for their new teams. Charlie proposes to Oscar that, with Duarte playing well, they should consider trading Lawson to a contender, but they first have to get him to waive his no-trade clause. Ginny's brother returns with a proposal to open a sports bar named "Screwgies" (a reference to Ginny's screwball, her best pitch). Despite Amelia's cautions, both Ginny and Evelyn agree to invest.
Charlie and Oscar propose a deal to trade Lawson to the Chicago Cubs, despite Luongo's objections that Duarte will be a much better catcher if Lawson stays to mentor him. As Mike says his goodbyes to Ginny, the two almost kiss, but are interrupted when Mike gets a phone call saying the Cubs deal is off. Elsewhere, Evelyn sees that large amounts of her investment in Screwgies have already disappeared and confronts Ginny's brother.
Mike deals with the fallout when teammates, especially Blip, learn that he wasn't the one who nixed the Cubs deal. Evelyn discusses the missing money from the Screwgies fund with Amelia, who then confronts Will. Will admits that he owed money for a loan on a previous business venture that failed. Meanwhile, the team wants to shut down Ginny for the season after their stat guru makes a point of how her offspeed pitches may be overtaxing her. They agree to let her have one last start, one in which she maintains a no-hitter through seven innings. Oscar implores Al to take Ginny out once she reaches 100 pitches, but Al defies him and lets an equally-stubborn Ginny pitch the next inning. Ginny makes a hard throw to first base for the third out of the eighth inning, then clutches her elbow in pain. As the episode ends, she is entering an MRI machine and does not know if she will ever pitch again.
Production
Development
A pilot was sold on September 8, 2015, by series creators Dan Fogelman and Rick Singer.[18] On January 14, 2016, Fox ordered the pilot to be shot.[19] The creators opened up a casting call on February 24, 2016.[20] The pilot episode was picked up to series on May 10, 2016.[21]Major League Baseball cooperated in the production of the series.[22]
Filming
The series was filmed in San Diego, California, and features the Padres, the club the protagonist plays for.[23] Producers also planned to use Petco Park in downtown San Diego to shoot scenes when the Padres are away or during the off season.[24]
Pitch received positive reviews from television critics, with Bunbury's performance receiving praise. The editors of TV Guide placed Pitch fourth among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016–2017 season. Its review, from writer Liz Rafferty, stated, "Not since Friday Night Lights have we seen a 'sports' show that managed to deliver week after week, making viewers feel as invested in the characters' personal dramas as we were in the final scores of the games" and added that "Pitch has the potential to pick up that torch." She also had high praise for Bunbury, whom she cited as a "breakout star, not to mention her (fictional) character Ginny Baker, the first woman to pitch in the MLB, to be a role model for young female athletes everywhere".[30] Based on 27 reviews, the show holds a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Critics Consensus being "A terrific lead performance and well-constructed setup and timely themes make Pitch a home run."[31]
