It's baseball season, which not only means plenty of Major League action but also the perfect opportunity to revisit some of the best baseball movies and TV shows on streaming services like Netflix, Paramount Plus and Prime Video.
The latter, in fact, boasts one of the best depictions of the beloved sport in recent memory: 2022's "A League of Their Own," an eight-episode TV adaptation of the 1992 classic sports comedy of the same name starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks.
Co-created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson (who also stars as plucky protagonist Carson Shaw), the half-hour sitcom similarly focuses on the film's memorable Rockford Peaches, a team of female baseball players organized during World War II. But the series stretches and deepens the scope of the original film, tackling vital topics like racism, sexism and queerness in the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Though the series only ran for one season — its ballgame sadly ending early due to the WGA strikes — it's still well worth a watch, whether you're a sports fanatic or otherwise. Need more convincing? Here's why you should stream "A League of Their Own" on Prime Video.
What is 'A League of Their Own' About?
"Broad City" great Abbi Jacobson stars as Carson Shaw, an amateur athlete who, while her husband is deployed, travels from her small town to Chicago to try out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (a real-life league that existed from 1943 to 1954, filling the gap left when male baseball players went off to war).
There, she lands the position of catcher on the Rockford Peaches and meets other women who also dream of playing baseball professionally, opening her world in more ways than one.
Elsewhere, Maxine Chapman (played by Chanté Adams) — a talented Black pitcher who is obsessed with baseball — is struggling to even be considered for any team; she can't join her local roster, the Peaches, because the AAGPBL doesn't accept Black players.
The parallel storylines between Carson and Maxine show that, while the level of athleticism and passion could be the same between two players, their respective realities mean very different trajectories for each character.
Why you should you stream 'A League of Their Own' on Prime Video
Though "A League of Their Own" was initially greenlit by Prime Video for a second season — off the critical strength of its first eight episodes, which have a homerun 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical consensus that praised the comedy's "roster filled with all-stars and a field rich with possibilities" — but that pick-up was harshly reneged by Amazon in August 2023 due to delays caused by the WGA strike.
It is a shame because the sports series had a winning future ahead of it. "A League of Their Own" was smartly and thoughtfully expanding on the original movie's stories with an ever deeper and more diverse ensemble, refreshingly giving space and spotlight to LGBTQ+ representation and racial inequality and how intersectionality was at the core of the female experience in 1940s America.
But don't think that "A League of Their Own" is merely some old-fashioned after-school special — there's also some grand-slam baseball on view here from the show's actors, with exciting scenes of action-packed (and believably choreographed) athleticism throughout. It will charm you whether you're a diehard baseball fan or simply just want a great show to add to your watch list.
Watch "A League of Their Own" on Prime Video now
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