After opening with the extremely dark, long couch-gag, there was no way The Simpsons could have failed last night. 

The opening, which was credited to street artist Banksy, included a whipped panda, a dolphin head and a dying unicorn.  That's a recipe for hilarity.

Oh, and then there was yet another Simpsons episode devoted to our boring American pastime, baseball.  "MoneyBart" was a parody of the sabermetrics approached pioneered by Bill James and written about in Moneyball.  While Moneyball was written in 2003 and the episode might not seem timely, the 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt should help.

While this week's installment will never replace our favorite Simpsons baseball episode, "Homer at the Bat," there were certainly plenty of great jokes and a strong enough story with heart to keep us entertained.  We probably could have gone without the painful cameo by Mike Scioscia, though.

Some of our favorite Simpsons quotes moments from last night's episode after the jump.

• Homer's vodka and mayonnaise mixed drink.
• Baseball as a "passionate game, beaten in excitement only by every other sport."
• Ralph being too (orange) juiced to play.
• The entire argument between Marge and Homer that included the brilliant line, "boys don't have feelings, they have muscles."
• Flanders, for loving his other neighbor just as much.
• "Do alligators alligate"
• "I caught a white apple."
• Man, Ralph will never get old.
• Did we mention the awesome intro?

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.