The “Pitch” Trailer Is Everything I Hoped It Would Be

Fox is gonna Fox. Just days after their annual upfronts, where they preview new and returning shows for their upcoming season, the network revised their fall schedule, bumping Bones to the spring and moving Pitch to the fall.

It’s a very calculated move. Fox has been home to the baseball postseason for years, and bringing Pitch to screens in the fall is meant to cross-promote with the postseason games. Remember, Pitch was made with the full support of Major League Baseball. It may be done with ratings in mind, but I sure as hell don’t care if it means helping the freshman baseball drama about the league’s first female pitcher attract a larger audience. Considering the lack of diversity certain other networks are offering next television season, we need all the female-led shows that we can get.

The trailer for Pitch dropped at the upfronts, and it is everything I hoped it would be. The trailer promises a show full of drama and baseball, of tackling tough issues like sexism and showcasing complicated familial relationships and strong female friendships.

I’d imagine the trailer mostly uses footage from the pilot, but it portrays everything you would expect to see in a show about a woman trying to make it in a man’s sport. Kylie Bunbury stars as Ginny Baker, brand-new pitcher for the San Diego Padres and the first ever female player in the MLB. In the trailer, Ginny deals with (presumably) sexist teammates, the struggle many women deal with in order to be taken as seriously as men, and her complex relationship with her father (Michael Beach). It also shows images that prove exactly why a show like Pitch is important; throughout the trailer we see shots of young girls cheering Ginny on holding signs that say things like, “I’m Next”. We need shows that tell young girls they can be anything — because while it would have never occurred to them that they couldn’t, it’s not like they have a lot to look up to on television.

I’m ridiculously excited for Pitch — not just because I’m a baseball fan, and not just because it’s about a woman (who also happens to be a WOC). Pitch is a show about a woman trying to prove that she is just as good as the men on her team. It’s not going to be easy, because this thing never is, but we’re never going to stop trying. Shows like Pitch are important because it will show just exactly how difficult it is for women to succeed in a job that’s predominantly men (even more so for a WOC). This is especially important when you consider the staggering income gap between male and female athletes (even when the women’s team is more successful than the men’s).

Pitch will air Thursdays at 9pm on Fox (until the spring, when Bones will take its timeslot). Check out the trailer below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0wLCGwYZ3g

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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