Since the opening moments of the Pitch premiere, we’ve seen Ginny face more conflict and scrutiny than any other player on the Padres. Of course, most of this comes from the fact that she’s a woman entering a man’s game, and the misogynists that play the sport don’t want her in their clubhouse. However, what about if the opposite happens? What if too many of Ginny’s teammates try to protect her, as if she’s some innocent little girl? Is that just as harmful to her career as the sexist comments and dirty looks she constantly gets?

Tonight’s Pitch, titled “Beanball,” deals with that question head-on, when Ginny decides that she wants to get retaliation against the Cardinals pitcher that broke Tommy’s finger. It’s a basic rule of baseball: you hit one of our guys, and we hit one of yours. But the Padres players, specifically Mike and Blip, don’t think it’s the best idea for Ginny to throw at the hot-headed Falcone, even if it is for a good reason. They worry what will happen to her if she starts a beanball war between the two clubs and then winds up getting hit herself. For them, this isn’t just another guy hitting an opposing player; this time is different because Ginny is a woman, and they want to protect her.

Even though Mike and Blip’s concern is genuine and comes from a good place, what they don’t understand is that treating Ginny this way doesn’t actually protect her at all. It doesn’t stop the media from continuing to debate and discuss the legitimacy of her pitching in the majors; it doesn’t take away all the pressure that Ginny’s under to not only perform on the mound but also be a role model to young girls across the country. By trying to give Ginny this special treatment, her teammates only make her feel more isolated, like she’s someone who needs to be coddled instead of respected, and they don’t realize that the only way that she can ever truly be “safe” in the MLB is when everyone starts treating her as an equal.

And ultimately, equality is really what Pitch is about. The series explores and challenges our ideas about femininity and male privilege in both the sports and entertainment industries through Ginny’s interactions with not only her teammates and other MLB players but also through more personal stories, such as the one we get tonight about Ginny and her ex-boyfriend, Trevor. It’s clearly unfair that Ginny needs to keep her guard up around other baseball players, that she can’t allow herself to be attracted to or even fall for any of them out of fear that it would make her look weak, foolish, or promiscuous. That concern barely even registers for Trevor when the two of them start dating in secret; he doesn’t need to worry about the woman he ends up dating because, at the end of the day, his baseball career will always be more important to his teammates and the media. For Ginny, though, news of her dating another ballplayer wouldn’t just be one story in the newspaper; it would be the story all over any sports network, and it would receive more focus than her pitching record or her ERA–the story would define her career.

Ideally, Ginny wouldn’t have to prove herself in order to be treated as “one of the guys,” and she wouldn’t have to worry about any type of stigma that would be attached to her, no matter who she dated. Pitch takes place in the real world, though, where these unfair expectations and requirements are still placed on women, and while everyone might not get what Ginny has to endure, at least Mike acknowledges it near the end of “Beanball.”

“You’re kind of blowing me away,” he tells her in one of the episode’s most moving moments, right before Ginny compares his beard to something out of Duck Dynasty, making them both laugh.

And sure, Mike might be one of the more understanding and enlightened members of the Padres, but even someone as boneheaded as Tommy begins to respect Ginny after she hits Falcone as retaliation for his broken hand. He’s the first one to fight alongside her in the episode’s big brawl, and he even invites her to join him and some of the other guys on the team for beers after the game.

It’s still not right that Ginny has been forced to jump through so many hoops just to receive equal treatment from her teammates,  but her determination and resolve to keep fighting for that equality, to more than earning their respect, just proves how fierce, strong, and resolute she really is. Just like Mike says during the episode, Ginny Baker is pretty damn special, and after three very strong episodes, I would say same thing about Pitch.

Other thoughts:

• As expected, the drink that Mike and Amelia shared at the end of last week’s episode leads to sex this week. And if Amelia cheering Mike on during the game and their flirty back-and-forth near episode’s end is any indication, it seems that things could be getting more serious between them in future episodes, even though it’s clear that Mike is still harboring feelings for Ginny.
• Speaking of Ginny and Mike, the chemistry between Kylie Bunbury and Mark-Paul Gosselaar has been solid from the beginning of this show, but it was really something spectacular in that scene between Ginny and Mike near the end of the episode. I especially loved him practicing his golf swing after she brings up the idea of the two of them golfing together.
• While Al getting his job back wasn’t anything unexpected (Dan Lauria is a series regular on Pitch), I loved how he went about doing it (and I also enjoyed the revelation that he speaks Korean–it was nice, surprising touch). Plus, Al’s reasoning to Maxine makes complete sense, and her clashing with Frank about the decision makes his villainous character so much more interesting. There was a lot to unpack in that conversation between Frank and Maxine, and I hope Pitch explores the tension between them in the future.
• In addition to adding a new layer to Frank, this week’s Pitch also does a great job at adding more depth to Oscar. Sure, he’s at the center of the episode’s most comedic storyline, as he searches for a Korean interpreter for most of its running time, but getting to see him interact with his daughter, including that gut punch of a final scene between the two of them, not only made me like him more but made me start to invest in him as a character. There’s so much more to Oscar now than the flashy GM that we met in Pitch‘s pilot, and I really hope the show continues to tell more personal stories about him in future episodes.
• Those photos that Trevor has of Ginny are going to be a major issue at some point down the line. Maybe they’ll come out as soon as next week’s episode, or maybe they’ll be leaked later on in the season, but you don’t introduce the idea of them unless they’re going to cause some problems for Ginny.
• “You gotta get through this. For Drake.”

What did everyone else think about tonight’s episode of Pitch? Are you enjoying the show as much as I am? Comment below and let me know.

[Photo credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX]

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