The best baseball TV episodes and movies to watch at home

It’s a beautiful day for a baseball story — let’s watch two.

Prime Video’s television adaptation of A League of Their Own It’s now available, bringing back the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Prime Video also has the original film, which stars Geena Davies, Tom Hanks and Madonna. Now’s a great time to revisit it.

Also, the real MLB season has begun to enter its home stretch. Even if most of the divisional races seem pretty much decided, it’s gearing up to be an exciting postseason after a busy trade deadline.

One work that I wanted to mention here, because it never got made: Spike Lee’s Jackie Robinson screenplay, based on the legendary Brooklyn Dodger’s autobiography. You can read it in full here — it’s quite unfortunate this movie never got made (and the far less interesting 42 Instead, he did.

We’ve pulled together a list of our favorite baseball TV episodes and movies, beyond the two versions of A League of Their Own Both available at Prime Video.

The best TV shows about baseball

Homer’s Bat

The SimpsonsSeason 3 Episode 17

Image: 20th Television

The classic version of The Simpsons’ third season is an essential episode from the show’s early years. After Homer’s softball exploits (aided by a parody of Natural) lead the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant’s softball team to the championship game, Mr. Burns brings in nine of the best baseball players in the world (voiced by themselves) as ringers to assure a win.

Written by legendary Simpsons scribe John Swartzwelder, “Homer at the Bat” is a hilarious, offbeat sports story that stands as one of the most memorable episodes of one of the most memorable shows ever made. The various ailments and misfortune that befall each of the nine ringers are unforgettable — my favorite is José Canseco being held up by a woman who needs him to retrieve every item from her burning house, and “Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness” was later the name of a great Dodger blog — but there’s nothing better than the post-credits song “Talkin’ Softball,” sung by “Talkin’ Baseball” songwriter Terry Cashman. —Pete Volk

The Simpsons Disney Plus allows you to view it.

Bring Me to the Holosuite

Star Trek: Deep Space NineSeason 7, Episode 4

Image: Paramount Domestic Television

One of the best things about Star Trek modern is the devotion it has to mundane hobbies. But it’s Deep Space NineIt was Captain Benjamin Sisko with his love for ancient baseball.

See, in the Star Trek universe, baseball hasn’t seen widespread play in three centuries, but Captain Sisko Love baseball. He taught his son how to play, he spectates re-creations of ancient games in the holodeck, and the actual baseball on his desk becomes a symbol of his commitment to the denizens of the integrated space station Deep Space Nine, whether they’re Starfleet officers or not. In 1998, as the oddball Star Trek series was completing its planned final season, it would be impossible to pay tribute to all the many facets built into the show without seeing some actual freakin’ baseball.

And so, for one episode only, the character of Sisko’s heretofore unmentioned academy rival — a Vulcan captain who believes Humans to be intellectually and culturally inferior — brings his ship full of equally bigoted Vulcan officers in for repairs at the station. And wouldn’t you know it: He and his officers have lately taken to playing this amusing little human game called “baseball.”

The gauntlet was thrown. The series’ full cast, officers and hangers on alike, humans and alien alike, furiously learn to play baseball from scratch so that they can help their dad — I mean their captain — defeat his archrival. All are given baseball caps and uniforms. Even Ferengi and Klingons. Named the Niners, this team has been called! Odo serves the role of umpire. Worf heckles The infield fly rule is described long and often, but it never comes into the plot.

This episode is universally regarded as one of the greatest Star Trek episodes. —Susana Polo

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Paramount Plus allows you to view it.

Take the Diamond

Steven UniverseSeason 3 Episode 5

Image: Warner Bros. Television

This episode shows what it is to do beautiful things. Steven Universe does best — taking a storyline of cosmic significance and telling it through absurd, local drama. In “Hit the Diamond,” the Crystal Gems are hiding from the the rulers of Gem World, living peaceably on Earth with humans. Feisty Rubies send a battalion to investigate if any Crystal Gems are hiding in the terraforming planet. Steven decides to interrupt them and does the only human thing that he can: challenges the Rubies in a game American baseball. There’s only one catch. They’re all super powerful and have to pretend that their capabilities are just human quirks.

Because gem fusion is a taboo in Gem World, Garnet separates into Sapphire and Ruby for the duration of the game — with Ruby pretending to be on the opposing team. Here’s the highlight of this episode. The two flirt so much that they threaten to endanger the game. By the end of the match, the two give away the Crystal Gems’ entire spot. Baseball is nothing compared to the game of love. —Nicole Clark

Steven Universe You can watch it on Hulu or HBO Max.

Time for a Game of Ball

The Assassination Classroom Season 1, Episode 12

Crunchyroll

There’s more than one episode involving baseball in the heartfelt (and bizarre) The Assassination ClassroomIt’s a story about a mysterious creature, who threatens the destruction of the entire world if his misfit classes (another condition of his), don’t kill him in time. The second episode features one of his students trying to kill him by using a baseball. It turns out it is an opportunity for him to teach about lack of self-confidence.

“Time for a Ball Game,” the 12th episode of the show, ups the baseball stakes. The students of E Class have to face off against the school’s baseball team in an exhibition match, with extra stakes for one student (Sugino), who was on the team before being kicked off and sent to E Class.

The episode features the usual ridiculousness from the octopus-like teacher/assassination target Korosensei, with an undercurrent of unwavering support that makes the show so special. You will also find a Lot Korosensei goes back and forth between his opponent coach with crazy tactics. —PV

The Assassination Classroom You can watch it on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

Baseball Blues

Samurai Champloo Season 1 Episode 23

Image Credit: Adult Swim

Much of the appeal of 2004’s Samurai ChamplooIts distinctive style, which combines chanbara tropes with anachronistic Hip-Hop elements and music, makes it a series that is full of gut-busting comedy, engaging action and memorable offbeat characters. The 23rd episode of the anime, “Baseball Blues,” is a great example of this, telling a fictional historical account of Jin, Mugen, and Fuu being recruited to compete in a game of baseball against a team of arrogant American traders to pay off their debt. From ninja smoke bombs to a baseball bat-wielding dog, there’s so much to love in this episode. –Toussaint Egan

Samurai Champloo You can watch it on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

Jujutsu Koshien

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1, Episode 21

Crunchyroll

Tokyo Jujustu High, the school of the protagonists in the anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, isn’t your average high school. This elite academy teaches magical abilities known as Jujutsu Sorcerers. It is a highly-elite school that helps people fight evil in the world. However, these kids are only high schoolers. After a huge fight which left several people injured, Satoru, a teacher who is not orthodox, arranges an event at school so the students can play baseball.

The episode has all the workings of a perfect baseball episode — nonsensical taunts, cute character moments, and all-powerful sorcerers who, when faced with some average challenge like a baseball game, are at an utter loss for how to act. The characters’ personalities come out in full swing, and the episode is one of the best the series has to offer yet. —Ana Diaz

Jujutsu Kaisen It is also available on Crunchyroll or HBO Max.

Greedy Bears

Brand New Animal: BNA Season 1, Episode 5

Image by Netflix

The fifth episode is available on Brand New Animal: BNA, “Greedy Bears,” baseball isn’t just a sport; it’s a battle royale of life-and-death stakes. When series protagonist Michiru is approached by the Bears baseball team to become their star pitcher, she agrees — on the condition that no one gets harmed. There’s a lot to love in this episode, from the exaggerated Looney Tunes-esque animation of Michiru’s shapeshifting to turn the tide of the finale’s game in her team’s favor to the deadpan comedy of Jackie the bear’s line delivery. If you’re looking for a fun, stand-alone anime episode that leans into the camaraderie of team sports, this one’s a must-watch. —TE

Brand New Animal: BNA It is now available on Netflix.

The All-Star Dream Game

Dorohedoro Season 1, Episode 7

Image by Netflix

There is no normal world. Dorohedoro, the macabre dark fantasy anime based on Q Hayashida’s manga of the same name. Not baseball. The seventh episode of the series, “The All-Star Dream Game,” follows the sorcerer Fujita, who embarks on a mission to kill series protagonist Caiman and avenge his late partner Matsumura. Posing as a human in order to participate in a local baseball game so he can get close to Caiman, Fujita’s plan changes when he realizes that Matsumura’s corpse — which Fujita needs in order to revive him — has been reanimated into a zombie to play for Caiman’s team. The episode features hilarious moments such as a bottomless pit of quicksand, a cheerleader dressed in shark costumes, and a sneaker-wearing giant cockroach wearing a jersey. Dorohedoro great. –TE

DorohedoroIt is now available on Netflix.

The best baseball movies

Moneyball

Columbia Pictures

As someone who read and liked Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball: Winning an unfair game is the art of winningIt is not possible for the book to have been made into an acceptable movie.

Moneyball It’s inherently unsexy. There’s no superstar leading character (in fact, very little time is spent with the best players on the Oakland A’s). It’s an underdog story without a truly happy ending. The whole story is dependent on one of the most cinematic and sexiest events in sport: the walk.

It helps when you have movie stars like Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman anchoring the drama, and one of Aaron Sorkin’s cleaner scripts. Moneyball thrives as a character study of Pitt’s Billy Beane, shining a closer light than the book on Beane’s own troubled past as a failed prospect. The excellent use of sports radio during contemplative sequences as background noise helps make this movie more cinematic and allows Pitt to have more fun with his role.

In the years since, parts of Beane’s approach have been distorted from being a way for small market teams to compete into a way for every baseball team to cut costs and save money through the dehumanization of players by reducing them to numbers. That context colored my view of the movie this time around, but it’s still an effective character portrait of one of the most influential figures in 21st-century baseball. —PV

Moneyball Hulu has it available for you to view.

Bull Durham

Image: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

There’s a pleasantly inconsequential quality to this 1988 sports rom-com, based on writer-director Ron Shelton’s own experiences in minor-league baseball. Kevin Costner plays the role of veteran catcher to manage Tim Robbins. Robbins is a highly skilled, but not very meaty pitcher who has potential for greatness in major-league baseball. Susan Sarandon plays with both of them in baseball.

What will the woman choose? Is there more tension between the men? Will Robbins’ “Nuke” get over himself, make it big, or both? That’s the size of the stakes here, and baseball only matters about as much as sex. Bull Durham is a warm, wry, lived-in film that doesn’t treat baseball as American mythmaking (as Costner would the next year in Field of DreamsBut, rather than as a humorous way to earn a living, —Oli Welsh

Bull Durham Paramount Plus allows you to view it.

All People Want One!

Image by Paramount Pictures

Richard Linklater is a nostalgic filmmaker — many of his movies (and especially his recent ones) take place in the Texas he grew up in. I love this comedy about college baseball teams. It highlights the exploits of young men with lots of time and confidence.

All People Want One! It takes place before the school year begins, in the last days off summer break. New freshmen are moving in, upperclassmen are establishing their superiority, and everybody’s looking to have a good time.

The movie occasionally drifts into the old problem overwriting chatty young people. However, it still works due to the natural feel of the setting and the outstanding cast. Wyatt Russell is the star of this scene, Glen Powell plays the other. However, everyone in the movie brings together both the experiences of being on college campuses and being on a sporting team. —PV

All People Want One! Digital rental is possible.

Sugar

Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

The Dominican Republic is the greatest baseball nation worldwide, pound for pound. Last season saw 169 MLB players from the Caribbean, a nation of just 10 million. This is 11.2% more than the overall total. United States had the most players in MLB last season, accounting for 30 percent of all countries. It also has the advantage of having a large population and the ability to host almost every Major League Baseball match.

The majority of American baseball films focus on players born in America. Sugar instead follows a young Dominican player named Miguel “Sugar” Santos (Algenis Perez Soto), a charming burgeoning superstar who carries his dream and the dreams of his community in his electric right arm. When he’s picked up by an American team, he has to deal with culture clashes, outright racism, and isolation in his new environment.

An early moment that speaks to the movie’s point of view, and the first sign that something is wrong with this picture, comes when Sugar has a brief argument with a former pro ballplayer who has returned home to the DR. The former pro taunts Sugar about his arm strength, to which Sugar asks if he’s so good, why is he back here now selling phone chargers instead of playing pro baseball? The ex-pro goes silent and it is a deeply painful moment that helps to get across all the obstacles and unforeseen on his journey to professional baseball.

Sugar This was also Anna Boden’s directorial debut. Captain Marvel. Soto is the star of SugarIn that film, he played Att–Lass. —PV

Sugar It is now available on HBO Max.

Eight Men Out

Image courtesy of M Home Entertainment

John Sayles is the author of this adaption of one of America’s most scandalous sports cheating scandals. Jaws Knockoffs Piranha And Alligator. The movie was made after two of his best-remembered directorial endeavors (low-budget scifi film) The Brother from Another PlanetAnd the labour drama Matewan), and takes on the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.

The 1919 World Series was lost by eight Chicago White Sox players. The accusations claimed these players operated in cahoots with gamblers, and in response, Major League baseball appointed its first-ever commissioner — Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a despicable man who played a major role in preventing Black players from playing in the Major Leagues for decades. Landis bans all eight White Sox baseball players for life. This includes Shoeless Joe Jackson. Jackson was one of great ballplayers during that era.

Jackson and the others insisted until death on Jackson’s innocence, despite many admitting to having been involved. Sayles’ film investigates and dramatizes this story with an all-star cast featuring John Cusack, Bill Irwin, David Strathairn, and Michael Rooker. —PV

Eight Men Out Digital rental is possible.

Twilight

Image: Summit Entertainment

In the baseball scene TwilightIt is the scene that most people will remember. As wonderfully generic protagonist Bella (Kristen Stewart) learns, the only time the vampiric Cullen family can play baseball is during thunderstorms — because vampires are so strong that when they hit the ball with the bat, it sets off a loud thunder-like noise.

This is sports to the extreme, set to Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” and swathed in the blue hue that makes the first Twilight movie so damn iconic. Edward raced through the trees trying to capture the ball. Alice raises her leg dramatically when pitching! Midair, the vampire players meet! For some inexplicable reason, Rosalie calls Emmett “my monkey man” in a sexy voice! I could keep up with the pace if this was IRL baseball. —Petrana Radulovic

Twilight Prime Video has it available for you to view.