The Goldbergs – Major League

By: Ariba Bhuvad

This week’s episode of The Goldbergs was all about Barry (Troy Gentile) and Adam’s (Sean Giambrone) favorite movie, Major League. It is a sports comedy that they both relate to and the only sports-related move that Adam can tolerate. This movie sneaks its way into their real life when Principal Ball (Stephen Tobolowsky) recruits Mr. Crosby (Clancy Brown) to help sabotage the baseball team. With Coach Mellor (Bryan Callen) gone, Ball is hoping to get rid of the team so the funds can be allocated elsewhere.

Ball asks Crosby to help him make this happen because he is the least qualified to actually lead the team considering he is the shop teacher. Although Crosby resists at first, he comes around as Ball hands him a list of students to recruit that would be horrible baseball players. The team includes Adam, Dave Kim (Kenny Ridwan) and others yet Barry is annoyed to find out about the new team. He is supposed to be doing his first pitch and does not want it to get ruined because of this change.

Crosby makes Dave Kim the shortstop and tells Adam to play the right field. Adam tries to get out of it by taking off his glasses and showing his lazy eyes, but Crosby doesn’t care and says the team will stay as he has decided. Back at home, Geoff (Sam Lerner) surprises Erica (Hayley Orrantia) with flowers for their first kiss anniversary. Erica is smitten and disgusted at the same time as Geoff tells her he has planned a romantic getaway to the Poconos. When Geoff confesses he hasn’t told his father yet and plans to lie to him about it, Erica says the trip isn’t going to happen. She knows he has trouble lying and usually ends up confessing what he did and throws in a random confession along with it. Erica proves her point when she asks Geoff to compliment Bev’s (Wendi McLendon-Covey) workout gear but he fails miserably. Since Geoff can’t lie to his father, Erica does it for him by saying that Geoff won an award and they are going to get it.

Adam and his friends continue to fail while playing baseball and Principal Ball is pleased to see it. He has Crosby kick out any players that are actually good and keep people like Barry in who are horrible at playing/pitching. Adam soon catches on to Crosby and Ball’s plan to “Major League” the team and decides to do something about it.

Erica and Geoff’s trip away ends up in disaster when Murray’s (Jeff Garlin) car flies off a cliff because the handbrake was not up. Their lies are now going to catch up to them and once again Erica has to figure out a way to lie about what happened. She makes up something about a drawbridge and puppies and the only person that seems to believe it is Bev. Their lies don’t last for long because Geoff comes clean about everything. Erica steps up to take all the blame for it as Murray starts to laugh uncontrollably. Bev explains that he’s at a stage beyond anger and pulls him away before he completely loses it. Geoff’s father (Ken Lerner) is not pleased to hear about all the lies and blames Erica for corrupting Geoff. He says their relationship is over and they have no say in it.

Adam reveals to the rest of the team what Crosby and Ball are up to, but Barry is in denial over being a bad player. He tries to prove it though soon figures out that he is indeed a bad pitcher. They decide to go with Adam’s plan to “Major League” Crosby and Ball back and become really good at playing baseball. They get together to figure out they can be better baseball players, perhaps with a sexy incentive? Adam brings out a cardboard cutout of Principal Ball and for every time they play bad he will remove a part of the cutout’s shirt which reveals Ball’s chest. During their meeting everyone forces Barry to confront that he needs glasses. It is not until he puts on Dave Kim’s glasses that he can see clearly, but he ends up getting frazzled over it all.

Erica is determined to win over Geoff’s father and makes a presentation to prove her point. Unfortunately, neither her nor Geoff do a very good job and end up confirming his father’s suspicions. He believes Erica is a really bad influence on Geoff and they aren’t good together.

Thanks to Adam’s leadership the team is ready to play baseball. However, Crosby notices that they are playing better and realizes they are being “Major League’d” back. They turn the tables by setting up a game against the best team. While the boys freak out, they are confronted by the other tea, known as the Meadowbrook Mafia, who are ready to take them all down. Barry gets called a “four-eyed nerd” by one of them (a boy named Bradley Cooper) because of his glasses. Barry realizes how much it hurts when someone calls you a name like that. After their confrontation, Barry tells the group that he pretends to be cool all the time but he really isn’t. He quits the team and walks away defeated.

Erica tries to recruit Bev to help her and Geoff out, but she finds out that her parents agree with Geoff’s dad. They think Geoff is too good for her and Murray begins comparing the two of them. Later on Bev feels guilty about what she said to Erica and goes to talk to her. At this point Erica is overwhelmed with grief over realizing that she isn’t good enough for Geoff. She believes he deserves someone better and nothing can change that truth. Bev can’t stand to see her daughter this way and convinces Erica to go with her and get Geoff back. Geoff and her dad show up at the Goldbergs’ as Erica starts to explain why she belongs with Geoff. He brings out the best in her and motivates her to be a better person, just like he is. The moral of the episode? Fight for what you love and always believe in each other.

Game day arrives and things start to go horribly as expected. Just as Adam is knocked down on the plate, Barry shows up to help the team out. He isn’t afraid to embrace who he is anymore and is ready to play–glasses and all. And while they didn’t win the game that day, Barry finally accepted who he was with no shame and no regrets.