This Week in 'Pitch': Ginny comes alive

Warning: This post contains spoilers for season one, episode 10 of “Pitch,” and every episode prior.

We’re nearing the end of the baseball season in “Pitch” land. Ginny’s year might be over, Mike might have lost the clubhouse with his aborted trade to the Cubs, Amelia may have lost a client, and Ginny’s brother Will might steal everyone’s money. Just like the end of the real baseball season, there’s no shortage of storylines. So let’s dive into the season finale of “Pitch.”

OFF THE FIELD

Hoo boy, buckle in because there’s a lot to cover. This week, after opening on the field (more on that below) and flashing back 36 hours, we find Ginny freaking out because she texted Noah, the cute billionaire she went on a date with last week, and after 20 minutes he hadn’t responded. (Calm down, girl. Give him a chance!) So she tracks him down at a coffeeshop where he’s playing guitar and singing. And not badly, either. That turns into a date, which turns into a night together. The next morning, he’s obviously incredibly into her. He does adorable stuff with the crappy coffee maker in Ginny’s hotel room (I think it’s time that Ginny got an apartment, to be honest) before offering to take her on a secluded island vacation — or anywhere she wants, really — during the offseason. Ginny absolutely should take him up on this, but she declines to give him an answer for the time being.

Ginny is also trying to navigate life with Mike after their almost-kiss from last week. Mike wants to brush past it, but it’s clear that Ginny wants to talk about it. It’s not clear if either of them regret it or are more embarrassed by it, because they’re both distracted by other partners. Ginny’s got Noah, and Mike is trying to get back together with his ex-wife. She’s apparently dumped her fiancé (just like in “Major League!”), and he’s not sure if he wants to get back with her. Al, the Padres’ manager, calls Mike into his office to talk about the trade that didn’t happen with the Cubs. He says that the Cubs were the new girl, fun and exciting for awhile, but that he’d never leave the Padres because he’s meant to be with them. Mike realizes that Al is inadvertently describing what happened with Ginny, and he makes a beeline for his ex-wife’s hotel room. The next morning, she breaks his heart a little bit when she indicates that she doesn’t really want to start things up again, but she appears in the stands of the game anyway, so it’s apparently back on with the two of them.

Beyond romance, Mike is dealing with the fallout of his non-trade to the Cubs. He reveals to Blip that he’s not the one who called it off, that the deal fell through at the last minute and he was ready to go if it hadn’t. Blip takes this personally and gives Mike crap for it for the rest of the episode. It culminates in an altercation in the dugout during Ginny’s final start — Blip was trying to calm down a frustrated teammate, and Mike steps in because he’s the captain of the team. Blip, of course, mentions that Mike was pretty ready to leave this team, and Blip is just as capable of handling things. Mike takes offense, and it nearly comes to blows. Things aren’t going to be fine with them for awhile, it seems.

But Blip and his wife Evelyn are dealing with their own problems. Evelyn discovered some discrepancies in the finances of Screwgies, the restaurant she was opening with Ginny’s brother Will. She gets all of her invested money out of there before Will can use it (Will had only been using the money Ginny had given to him) and talked to Ginny’s agent Amelia, who said that she’d take care of it. After Amelia threatens to tell Ginny, Will comes clean with her himself: he had gotten in debt after trying and failing to open a coffeeshop, and used Ginny’s money to pay off that debt. With that, Ginny says she’s done. She doesn’t like the con man her brother has become, and tells him to leave so he can find his own path.

But Amelia’s involvement has consequences. Ginny didn’t want her to interfere, but she did anyway, because it’s her job. Ginny blows up at Amelia, who points out that she’s been taking a lot of crap from Ginny because Ginny doesn’t quite understand how things work and what her responsibilities are. Ginny essentially fires Amelia, who leaves for a tropical vacation (she deserves it). Amelia is a main character (i.e. the actress that plays her, Ali Larter, is in the main credits), so she’s not going anywhere, but this is absolutely something Ginny will regret.

But back to Blip and Evelyn. She’s disappointed that she won’t get to open the restaurant, because she’s ready to do something that’s just for her. She left business school in her sophomore year to be with Blip, and then she had twin boys, so she feels like the time is right for her to open a restaurant herself. Blip is less than supportive, because he wants them to have another kid. Evelyn doesn’t feel that way. She says she’s done having kids, and demands that Blip be as supportive of her as she’s been of him for the last nine years. All things considered, it’s not an unreasonable request.

ON THE FIELD
As you can see, Ginny has a lot to deal with going into what will be her final start of the season, even though it’s only early September. A guy from the analytics department informed Oscar the GM that Ginny needs to be shut down immediately, since her reliance on the screwball is increasing the wear and tear on her arm. Ginny ends up negotiating one more start, and then she’ll be done for the season.

Ginny has a lot swirling in her head as she makes her final start, but it all quiets down to just one song playing in her mind as she pitches. What song is that? “Uptown Funk,” of course. And it helps: Ginny is straight up dealing through seven innings, getting closer and closer to becoming the first San Diego Padres player to ever throw a no-hitter. That’s right: it’s her final start, and she’s on an innings limit, but she’s got a no-hitter going. Oscar wanted Ginny out after the seventh inning, so when she goes back out for the eighth, he calls Al down in the dugout, leading to the single best scene that this show has ever done.

You tell him, Al. Or don’t tell him.

As the eighth inning starts, she loses it a little. She sees the scoreboard and gets rattled. Mike comes out to talk to her but she cuts him off immediately, because Ginny the Powerful has emerged from the shadows. She tells Mike she doesn’t want to hear one of his speeches, because she doesn’t need it. She doesn’t need him trying to kiss her either, because as long as they’re teammates, that’s how they’re going to stay. (Oh please oh please oh please.) What else? She doesn’t need Noah trying to take her around the world, she doesn’t need her con man brother, and she doesn’t need Amelia trying to save her. She doesn’t need a man to help her, because right now she’s pitching a no-hitter and she’d like to finish. It’s a truly impressive speech, and Kylie Bunbury, the actress who plays Ginny, delivers it as well as she’s delivered any single line on the show.

So of course, with one out in the eighth inning of a no-hitter, a guy on the opposing team bunts up the third base line. Ginny runs for it, gets the ball, throws it for the out, and ends up writhing on the ground in pain. She’s hurt her arm, and she has to leave the game. It ended badly, but this is the Ginny I’ve been longing to see. She’s let herself get tossed and turned by the winds of circumstance, and she’s been a willing participant in that. She usually seems so overwhelmed or tired or eager to please that she just lets things happen to her. The Ginny we saw at the end of the episode is the Ginny that should always be there: strong, self-assured, ascendent in her position and her power.

BEHIND THE SCENES
Kylie Bunbury is having the time of her life playing Ginny Baker, and it shows when she talks about it. She’s living her dream as an actress, but as an added bonus she feels like she’s really touching people by playing such an interesting and unique role on television. It’s hard not to be at least a little inspirational while playing the first female MLB player, right?

MIKE LAWSON VS. JAKE TAYLOR
With yet another similarity to “Major League” this week, I felt like it was only fair to compare the two once more. Near the end of the Padres game in “Pitch,” Mike sees his ex-wife sitting in the stands, using the ticket he left for her even though she said she wouldn’t be there. He gives his beard a tug, which seems like it’s something he used to do to tell her he loved her. In “Major League,” well, things are a little more significant.

So let’s compare. In “Major League,” Jake Taylor sees his true love in the stands after the team has won the World Series on a walk-off, and she holds up her hand to indicate that she’s no longer engaged. Now they can be together! Yeah, “Major League” wins this one in a landslide, though Mike Lawson is a lot cuter than Jake Taylor. If anyone ever wants to remake “Major League,” give Mark-Paul Gosselaar a call. (But seriously, don’t remake “Major League.”)

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher