Fox’s new series Pitch is, undoubtedly, one of this season’s most anticipated new television shows. The first of its kind of be officially associated with Major League Baseball, it focuses on a young pitcher by the name of Ginny Baker, who becomes the first female athlete to play in the league.
TV, sports and feminism are three of our favorite things here at Fangirlish, and so we could not be more excited for this new show. Here are our five wishes for the first season of Pitch.
1. Women kicking ass at sports
Obviously, in a show about a woman playing Major League Baseball, we want to see women succeed in sports. But it’s not just Ginny that we want to see on screen. We want to see that female athletes are numerous, awesome and entertaining. We want female athletes, female fans, female reporters. We want Pitch to show the sports world exactly what it’s missing when it excludes women.
I know some non sports fans might disagree with me on this, but I personally believe that sports evoke more emotion in their fans than any other form of entertainment. The sense of community you feel when your team is doing well, the terror of watching a close game and wondering if this could be the end, the hopelessness of a slump, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the blind, irrational faith in your team, the total elation of watching them win and feeling like you share some small part in their success, and of course the almost unbearable sense of defeat when everything eventually and inevitably comes crashing down in the most painful way imaginable.
This is the reason we enjoy sports, and it’s what Pitch should capitalize on. We want to be invested in this team, these players, this fanbase, even if they’re all fictional. We want to experience all the highs and lows of the season. A show about baseball has a wonderful chance to hit us right in the feels, and though I know I’ll regret saying this when everything goes wrong and I’ll feel like my team has just been eliminated from the playoffs yet again, I hope Pitch does exactly that.
3. Positive representation
From what we’ve seen from the trailers, Pitch is all about including people in a narrative that has consistently ignored them. It’s about a strong woman of colour standing up and making her mark in a completely male dominated sport. It’s about refusing to sit down and accept that you’ll never be allowed to have a part in something that you’re passionate about. It’s a story that could resonate with a lot of people, especially those in marginalized groups. In Pitch, we want to see women, people of colour, people in the LGBTQ+ community, people who are constantly told that they don’t have a place in sports. We want positive female friendships, strong women, healthy relationships. That’s what will make this show so much more powerful.
4. A long, inspiring journey
We know it’s not going to be easy. Sports are a scary world to navigate for a woman and we know from the trailer that Ginny’s path to success will be long and difficult. And we want that. We want to root for Ginny. We want to feel her frustrations, her defeats, her victories, and we want to be proud of this trailblazer and role model for young girls.
5. Real change in the sports world
Okay, maybe this is too much to ask of a TV show. Essentially, it’s just entertainment. We shouldn’t expect it to lead a revolution in terms of rights for female athletes, and we don’t. But right now the sports world is experiencing a major shift in philosophy when it comes to how it treats women. Female athletes kind of kicked ass at the Rio Olympics. The USA Women’s Soccer team is currently fighting for equal pay. The WNBA is getting more popular every year. The NWHL is actually paying women to play hockey. Things aren’t changing quickly enough, but they’re still changing for the better. And maybe, just maybe, seeing a woman excel at Major League Baseball might help move things along a little bit.
Pitch premieres Thursday, September 22nd on Fox.