TV Review - Pitch

This series focuses on the fictional idea of a woman playing for a Major League Baseball team. Kylie Bunbury (Twisted and Under the Dome) stars as Ginny Baker, the 23-year-old pitcher who gets signed to the San Diego Padres, making her the first and only woman to be signed to the MLB. She's compared to Jackie Robinson who was the first, African-American, professional baseball player signed.

As is the case with most TV series or even films about sports or sports teams, the series is a lot about what goes on behind the scenes, in the locker room or the clubhouse, not only strategy but also business and interpersonal relationships. Obviously, there's a lot of sexism to be overcome.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar (NYPD Blue and Franklin & Bash) co-stars as Mike Lawson, the captain of the Padres and the team's catcher. He's very much the veteran, super star, ladies man and ass-slapper, bearded and macho. Yet, he's in his late thirties, which is getting old for any athlete. He's separated from his wife and is missing her. He's very competitive in that he notices Ginny is very much in better shape than him.

Ali Larter (Heroes and Final Destination) also co-stars as Amelia Slater, the agent who represents Ginny after ditching her Hollywood clients in a Jerry Maguire moment. She's determined and can come across as a cold bitch. It's revealed that she's perhaps this way because of all the things that went wrong in her marriage.

Tim Jo (Glory Daze and The Neighbors) plays Eliot, the assistant to Amelia. There's also a good, supporting cast including Mark Consuelos as Oscar Arguella, the team's general manager, Bob Balaban as Frank Reid, the team's owner and Mo McRae as Blip Sanders, a center-fielder and Ginny's friend from back in the day.

Created by Dan Fogelman (The Neighbors and Galavant), the series seems like it might be a good way of examining baseball as a sport and the surrounding culture. Gender will no doubt be a theme, what is masculinity and what is femininity. The series starts with her first game and shows flashbacks leading up to her getting signed. It'll be interesting to see if this opens the door for more women in baseball. It'll also be interesting to see if it opens the door to gay men playing openly or transgendered people playing at all.

Four Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-14-DLS.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Thursdays at 9PM on FOX.