AHHHHHHH!!!!

What an episode! I really love this show and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once it's over! The fact that it's fate is up in the air only makes it that much more emotional.

Speaking of emotional, Pitch Season 1 Episode 9 knew how to take us for a ride! From beginning to end it had me sitting on the edge of my seat, gritting my teeth, and occasionally making obscene gestures at a character or two. Charlie. It was totally Charlie! 

Again, I cannot gush enough about Mark-Paul Gosselaar and his performance as Mike Lawson. He does a remarkable job bringing Mike Lawson to life. He's such a lovable, relatable, human disaster, gruff character but he has so much heart and knows how to rip yours out with things as simple as the delivery of a line or a look. 

I'm more than familiar with a lot of MPG's work, but Mike Lawson is probably hands down, some of his best work to date. He's one of the many things that makes this show so stellar...and this episode was another example of that. 

Ginny: I can't tell you how annoying it is. To turn on the tv and hear all these talking heads going on and on about you. Everywhere I go its Mike-o-mania. It's like no one else plays on this team.
Mike:[chuckles] Mike-o-mania, huh?
Ginny: Nothing catchy goes with Lawson.

• Permalink: Nothing catchy goes with Lawson.

No one was taking the buzz surrounding Mike leaving for the Cubs well at all. Yet, they handled it a lot better than I anticipated, given the fact that he's the cornerstone of the team and the clubhouse. But Charlie was making it his mission to test everyone's resolve on this. 

My love/hate relationship with both Oscar and Charlie continued. Oscar, didn't bother me as much, but Charlie? Honestly, screw Charlie! As I said, every time he appeared onscreen I was giving him a middle finger salute. 

I get that Charlie is a businessman. I understand that baseball is a business, but his complete and utter disregard and lack of fundamental understanding of the heart, soul, and human element to the game is absolutely baffling!

Charlie: I swear to God, if this trade falls apart.
Oscar: You can tweet it was my fault. Hashtag I don't give a rat's ass.
Charlie: What are you doing?
Oscar: Not watching Mike Lawson's last bat on a flatscreen.

• Permalink: Not watching Mike Lawson's last bat on a flatscreen.

He's shown that he is capable of showing concern and understanding people when he chooses to. Pitch Season 1 Episode 6 was one of his finest episodes! How could he not know that fans would lose their s*#^ if their hometown hero didn't get to play his final game?! 

What kind of jackass would think that was acceptable? Scratching his name off the game and not giving him the chance to say farewell? Or better yet, robbing him of all the support, accolades, and love that his fans would shower him with at his final game?

Charlie's focus on dollar signs, and lack of understanding of anything relating to baseball has been frustrating as hell to watch all season. As a general rule, I kinda think the person running things in the front office should have some sort of expertise and at least know a little something about the sport. Controversial opinion, I know!

If money talks, dealing with 40,000 pissed off fans being ready to boycott or God knows what else, should sound like a symphony. 

Ginny: Put on a helmet.
Mike: What?
Ginny: Trust me. Put on a helmet.

• Permalink: Trust me. Put on a helmet.

Thank God, Ginny used her pull to get Mike on the field. I love it when she utilizes her Ginnsanity to her (or someone else's) advantage. When you have the power and the influence, you gotta know how to use it!

I just really loved that moment, because no way in hell was she going to let her friend, mentor, and hero not get what he was due and what he deserved! I also loved that what Butch's words probably influenced her.

It's shocking that it took Ginny this long to actually realize just how close she and Mike are. I know he said that duckling thing on Pitch Season 1 Episode 8, but did she really think their relationship was one-sided somehow? 

Everyone around them could tell that other than Blip, Ginny was the closest friend he had on the team. Arguably one of his best ones. For all his fame, Mike is a bit of a loner. 

As for her, I mean she willingly left a date with the very charming Noah, just to meet up with Mike (and she assumed her other teammates) at a bar. That's the kind of thing you do with your besties. 

Ginny: Your teammates don't want you to go?
Mike: What about you?

• Permalink: What about you?

On the shipping front, I've always maintained that the Bawson action fell mostly on Mike. Ginny may have had a crush on him, but the majority of the season it has been Mike with the lingering looks, the meddling, initiating late night phone-calls, the sincere moments, and let us not get into the long list of things he knows about Ginny from studying her a bit too long; a list he added on to. 

All I'm saying is, maybe people wouldn't ship Bawson so much if Mike didn't look at his rookie like she hung the moon. So, by the time we got to the intimacy of their bar scene, and of course the tension between them in their near-kiss final moment, it felt well earned. Even if you aren't a shipper.

And some moment that was, wasn't it? 

I liked their almost kiss, because somewhere between Mike's speech about Grape Soda, Cilantro, and Katy Perry, and that exact moment, Mike knew he had feelings for Ginny. And he spent the time in between being genuinely sincere, pushing her away and shutting her out, or making confessions shrouded in light-hearted humor and banter, to that fact. 

I also loved the way they physically stepped back the second they got the news that the trade fell through. Both of them, immediately putting as much distance between them as possible. It was awkward and yet, not.

I'm dying to see where they go from here. Will they avoid each other for a bit? Neither of them are the type to talk things out much. 

Blip: You okay?
Ginny: He's walking out on us.
Blip: You almost did. Forget about your first start? "Get me out the damn game?" Mike didn't quit on you did he? I'm not happy about this either but you know that old saying that there's no"I" in team? Don't believe it. There's 25 of them all with their own lives and their own problems.
Ginny: He's leaving this team in good hands.

• Permalink: He's leaving this team in good hands.

Blip is easily one of my favorite characters, and he stood out in this episode too!

He has such a gentle but strong quality to him. He really is the sound voice of reason on this show, and I understand why Mike calls him "Black Yoda." I also understand why he was the front-runner for being the next Captain. 

He spent a great deal of the episode being the shoulder to lean on, the ear to listen, and he's always such a supportive supporting character. He comes across very internal, and I'm wondering at what point do the scales tip for him. Based on the promos for the finale, we may just find out. 

Additional Notes:

• I'm sooooo irritated by this whole thing with Will Baker! Did he really need to be this scammer who exploits and destroys everyone around him? I hate this development with a passion! 
• Evelyn kicked in the most money for this restaurant, and freaking Will is already taking advantage of, exploiting her, and treating her like she's stupid. I'm so pissed about this! Why would he tie in Ginny's friends and surrogate family, knowing damn well the fallout could be catastrophic?!
• In the war between Grandpa Al and Oscar, I will ALWAYS be on Team Al! I understand why Al is pissed off about everything relating to Oscar. Oscar is good at his job, and that's nice to watch sometimes, but it's hard to respect someone who manipulates and plays all sides. It's probably what keeps me from ever truly enjoying his character, even though Mark Consuelos does a fantastic job playing him. 
•  I do not love anything that has to do with Oscar and Natalie. Words cannot describe how little I care about anything relating to Oscar and his personal life. They literally just threw this relationship at us. And 10 minutes dedicated to it was 10 minutes too much.
• Livan Duarte is my problematic fave. I actually like Livan when he's with Ginny! Outside of that, he's too egotistical, not a team player, and he doesn't listen! We've seen how endearing, charming, and sweet Livan can be when he's with Ginny, so why can't we get him to be that way most of the time? 
• Some of my favorite moments of the season are the ones involving them actually playing the game. I was so pissed off (as I said, profanities and middle fingers were flying this episode) when Mike was shut out. I was gleeful when Ginny got him in, and devastated when he struck out. The cheers he got had me sniffling a bit. The room got dusty okay. It happens. 

So what did you guys think of the episode? Did you ever think that Mike would get traded? Are you as annoyed as I am about the Will Baker storyline? Did you care about the Al, Oscar, and Natalie family drama? Are you pro or anti- Bawson?

Hit up the comments below and let us know what you think!

We're at the end of the road, guys! There's only one episode left of Pitch! It's been a hell of a ride and it doesn't appear to be slowing down on Pitch Season 1 Episode 10.

If you need to catch up before the finale (I highly recommend that you do if you've missed any of these episodes, they're all fantastic)!  Or if you just want to relive the Pitch experience, you can watch Pitch online right here at TV Fanatic! 

Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.