Pitch: 5 Things We Wish We'd Gotten To See Before It Was Unceremoniously Cancelled

Major League Baseball is replete with longstanding grudges, so allow us to toss ours onto the field: We're still angry about Fox cancelling Pitch after one season in 2016.

And adding insult to Injured List? Not long before this piece went to press, all of Pitch Season 1 was "disappeared" from Hulu, its home since getting benched six-and-a-half years ago.

The pro-ball drama from Dan Fogelman (This Is Us) starred Kylie Bunbury as Ginny Baker, the first female player in the major leagues. Mark-Paul Gosselaar played Mike Lawson, Ginny's teammate on the San Diego Padres and the catcher to her pitcher. Though the show's ratings often fell short of a homerun, it had a dedicated following and critical acclaim; the cast was sure that a Season 2 renewal would come eventually.

"I'm not even entertaining the thought that we won't come back," Gosselaar told TVLine at the time, adding that he, Bunbury and their castmates were planning to "give our bodies about a month break before we go into our preseason routine and begin training again for next season." After the cancellation, he admitted to being "blindsided" by the network's decision.

Though a potential revival eventually fell through, Bunbury told TVLine in 2020 that "I will forever be open to stepping into Ginny's shoes again." So in the spirit of ninth-inning miracles, read on for the five things we wish we'd been able to see in a second season of Pitch — you'll quickly notice a theme — and then hit the comments section below to tell us what you would've liked to have had take place in and around the dugout.

Yes, the show waved an important flag for feminism by having a woman dominate in the traditionally male world of Major League Baseball. Yes, Bunbury's Ginny Baker and Gosselaar's Mike Lawson were layered, flawed people who had a lot going on both in and out of the ballpark. And yes (we can already hear you gearing up to hit the comments), men and women can be platonic friends/coworkers, and nothing more. But, uh, did you see the show? Baker and Lawson had chemistry aplenty, right from the first moment they met — even if they didn't realize it at the time.

And man, did that chemistry light up in Episode 9. Mike, and everyone else, thought he was being traded to Chicago. So when Ginny showed up late at his going-away party, leaving only the two of them to drink beers and talk about how much they'd miss each other, their built-in boundary — teammates would never get involved, right? — was crumbling by the minute. Their farewell hug turned into a lingering embrace, and all of a sudden the pair was thisclose to sliding into first base. What would've happened had Mike's phone not rung with news that he was sticking with the Padres? We would've liked to know!

So can you blame us for wanting a Season 2 in which Ginny and Mike's ever-evolving relationship continued the path it was very clearly on toward the end of the show's freshman run? Please understand: We don't think it would've been an easy home run for either the pitching phenom or her aging teammate. As executive producer Rick Singer told TVLine at the time, "Listen, the tricky part of the undeniable connection between Ginny and Mike is that as Ginny says, as long as they're teammates, it is somewhat untenable, certainly forbidden to a certain degree. But also, one of the great things about it is that it's out there now. Like, it's undeniable. There is this connection, there is this chemistry, and so that informs everything going forward between the two of them. But there's also this undeniable fact that it just is so inconvenient on all fronts." Along those lines, the season-ender, which became the de facto series finale, hinted at some major drama ahead: Mike blocked Ginny's every attempt to discuss their near-kiss, then hopped into bed with his ex-wife, Rachel. We're no refs, but we'll call that one, anyway: Foul!

Also in the finale: Ginny was on track to pitch a no-hitter when an injury took her out of the game. The last we saw, she was undergoing an MRI to determine how much damage she'd incurred. We would've liked to have seen how Gin handled the massive setback, as well as how supportive (or not!) Mike would've been to her as she waited it out on the injured list in the aftermath of a potentially career-ending blow.

OK, OK, you got us: While 'Bawson' is at the top of our list — and in the three slots that follow — we also would've liked to see the Padres go all the way to the World Series... if for no other reason than to witness how Mike's achieving his ultimate goal would've affected his future with the team (and one teammate, in particular).