The G.O.A.T., Episode 3, “Opening Day”
On opening day, the first person to arrive at the stadium is owner Leah Owens. Lewis leaves first thing in the morning while Owens watches. Owens calls the private investigator, Applegate. Benjamin works out hardcore on her Peloton. Gray listens to Pink Floyd on vinyl while sipping Scotch and smoking a cigar. Tannehill and Howell work with Riggins and Doman before the game. Glover naps in the dugout. Kimbell lays down the third base chalk line. Lawthon secretly drinks to numb the literal pain. Huebner and Duhart pray in a chapel. Langwieler watches video.
The Statesmen play the Smashers today. A Groundskeeper mows the field. A Bat Boy fills the bat rack. Masked Employees sanitize the seats. A Minimum Wage Employee scoops popcorn into tubs. Another Minimum Wage Employee dumps ice into a soda machine. A Bartender stocks a cooler. A Custodian pushes a broom. Another Custodian puts a new bag in a trash can. Minimum Wage Employees stack programs on tables. A Security Guard and a Ticket Taker laugh as they wait for fans to arrive at the game. A Ticket Seller opens her booth. As the fans arrive, a Security Guard tells them a COVID-20 card and mask are required. A Cult Member buys a fake vaccination card from a vendor and enters the stadium. The Cult Member randomly puts cult stickers in the stadium.
League president Mary Billups is hosted by Owens, Benjamin and Lewis before the game. The New York Smashers team bus arrives. Bishop performs his superstitious thing before the game and isn't embarrassed when Cloud catches him. Jones takes pills to deal with his injuries. Kendricks listens to music and takes a nap. Youngblood, Derby, Malay, Wheeler and Parker do yoga. Duhart prays over a Bible. Pasco is also religious, but less obvious about it. Speck, Delarosa, Shotwell and Chester do coke in a bathroom. Chester and Speck also drink. Pitts works out before the game. Dr. Green checks out Flowers. Whaley checks the lineup and sees he isn't playing. He gets angry with Glover. Riggins does an interview before the game, but Delarosa, Shotwell, Speck and Chester prank him.
Opening Day begins. The Statesmen were established in 1879. They have 17 Eastern Conference Championships, most recently from 2013. They have no World Series banners. Barney Baseball frolics with fans. President Stedman Winfrey throws out the first pitch. A military brass band plays the national anthem.
Game: The Statesmen host the New York Smashers. Riggins pitches and Kendricks plays first. While pitching, Riggins talks to the ball before each throw and has other superstitions. Joel tees off on the pitch and hits a line shot that Kendricks dives for and catches. Kendricks makes a mental error which rattles Riggins and leads to a home run and a 2-0 lead for the Smashers. Riggins tries to confront Kendricks in the dugout, but the coaches and players stop him.
Gray does an ad for Fishin' Country USA.
Inesta Morgan and Major Sumrell host Sports Central. The Sports Central Crawl reveals: No arrests imminent in graffiti case. Puerto Rico governor denies wave of kidnappings. California redwoods damaged by arson. This world is different: Anti Hero is a top movie, Steve McQueen is a NASCAR driver, Sterling Cooper is Secretary of State, bombings are taking place in Vietnam, the Florida State Tarpons are two-time national champions in women's basketball.
Major reports that Kendricks got four walks in one game. In another game, he hit for the cycle. The Statesmen are off to a 7-1 start. Major laughs at Inesta's joke, he's into her. She flirts with him on-air.
Jeffrey Brack reports on an oppressive heat wave and growing unrest in Puerto Rico.
A couple comes back from a movie to find the corpse of a single man. Officers Snell and Beck discover a second connected murder.
Captain Levin's assistant Rita sets up the briefing room. She starts the coffee maker. She stacks Styrofoam cups on the counter. She refills paper cones in the water cooler. She places pens and briefing books before all the chairs. She checks on the coffee. She puts out stirrers and non-dairy creamer. She puts napkins near the coffee maker. She leaves and comes back with a dozen donuts. She sets out the donuts, then eats one. And then another. She goes and gets a Custodian to empty the trash cans. Even the one with only one napkin in it. O'Reilly comes in and makes a beeline for the donuts. Rita smiles over a job well done.
Captain Alex Levin gives the latest all-staff briefing. She plays down the chances the two murders are connected. Several reports have come in from other precincts about possible suspects.
Shirley tries to get started on writing about baseball, but she just isn't interested in the topic. She goes to Chad's house and asks him for help. She convinces him to dig into the murders instead of baseball.
McDaris interviews Owens on TV. He badgers her about firing Gray. She admits she can't fire him. Lewis watches the interview. Owens makes it clear that she isn't really running the team and hints that she would fire Lewis and Gray. Augustus got his money from something called "the Red...." Lewis commiserates with Gayle, hinting that Lewis and Augustus might've had a thing. Lewis says she doesn't want to leave the Statesmen, she has a special connection to them. Lewis sets up a meeting via the dark web with someone anonymous.
Cody asks Levin for a bigger role in the case. Levin says Eversmith and Cody are part of the "brain trust" and are important to the case. Levin makes fun of Eversmith and the Setup. Eversmith is waiting for Cody after the meeting with Levin and tells Cody to follow her.
In a minor league game, the Blattsville Millstones play the Roswell Grays. Chaka Purvis pitches well for Roswell. His teammates beg him for information about Kendricks. He dishes.
Eversmith takes Cody to the basement of the precinct and shows her the Setup, a computer program that creates a 3D image of crime scenes that you can interact with. Eversmith says that Levin and the other cops have no leads in the case, saying the purported leads are jokes. She says the real clues have to be in the way the killer(s) have displayed the crime scenes. Eversmith says that Moneyball is true about the way the police department runs, too. Eversmith tells Cody the "brain trust" line was a joke.
Gray asks Owens if he can fire Huebner and Howell. She says no and insults him. He references the movie Major League, implying that she's like that owner, but she isn't familiar with the movie.
Shirley's enthusiasm has finally gotten Chad interested in the murder cases.
Michael Weisman hosts the Sunday Sports Chat Show with guests: Sharon Alligood, Ricky Womble, Edith Merman, Dwayne McDaris. Topics include: Are the Statesmen better than the Smashers? Are the Statesmen for sale? Is Chaka Purvis ready for the bigs? Is Kendricks a flash in the pan?
Alligood argues that the Statesmen are for real. The men on the panel ridicule her opinions. McDaris can't believe that Kendricks is for real. Alligood notes he hit 11 homers in his first eight games. The Statesmen beat the Smashers, the best team in the league.
At the airport, Kendricks and the other players are mobbed by fans. Bishop autographs a pack of sausages and sees McDaris. He rushes up and challenges McDaris. He falsely remembers McDaris as having insulted him on TV and confronts him. McDaris tries to explain, but Bishop punches him in the face.
Cody meets with Shirley in an interrogation room. Shirley tries to get her to loosen up, but it doesn't work. Shirley smartly realizes that Cody researched her in advance. Shirley used to be a web sleuth and helped solve a big murder case. Shirley reveals she researched Cody, too. Cody's mom was murdered by a random guy and other web sleuths helped solve that case. Cody loosens up a bit. She tells Shirley that her mother's murder is why she became a cop, but notes that it was a bad decision.
Gray meets with Huebner and Howell. He makes it clear he doesn't want them on the team, but he has no choice in the matter. He offers them the option of quitting, but they don't take it. Huebner tries to bond with Howell, but Howell thinks both Huebner and Gray suck. Gray says they're all stuck together, though, so they need to figure out a way to get along.
Game: The Statesmen visit the Miami Blades (6th) Jones is struggling and the game is 6-6. Jones focuses and gets out of the inning. Bishop hits a home run to give the Statesmen a 7-6 lead. (9th) Kendricks hits an inside-the-park home run to give the Statesmen an 11-6 lead.
Many of the players are out partying on South Beach, to the awe of the crowds. Speck gives Bishop a flask to drink from and he takes it. They go to a club called Carnero Rojo. Speck and Bishop talk Kendricks into helping them skip the line. He agrees, but instead of going with them, he picks three attractive people (two women and a man) out of the line and takes them back to his hotel. The others go into the club.
Whaley tells a Security Guard that he left his Rolex in the locker room and the Guard lets him in after hours. Whaley pretends to get his Rolex from his locker and then sneaks into Ferd Langwieler's office. Whaley breaks into the filing cabinet and pulls out Cam Kendricks' file. He makes copies of it and puts it back. As he's leaving, he runs into a custodian, Janice. She wonders what he's doing there at this time of night and Whaley turns it around and threatens her. She calls her union representative.
Kendricks has sex with all three people he picked up from South Beach but sends them home early.
Bishop and teammates are dancing. Bishop is not good, but women like him anyway. One hits on him too hard and he dances with others. Later, Bishop returns to the hotel with a woman he met at the club. He passes Kendricks on the way in. Kendricks is going out somewhere at a very late hour, but he doesn't respond to Bishop. Bishop is distracted and forgets about it as the woman pulls him inside.
The Ticket Seller's booth is empty. The front gates are closed. Program tables are empty. A Custodian empties a trash can. A Delivery Man puts kegs in his truck. Ice machines sit empty. Popcorn sits in large bags. A Custodian sweeps the concourse. Stadium employees sanitize the stadium. The bat rack is empty. A groundskeeper parks his truck. The scoreboard goes dark. The stadium lights go off.
Jones gets worked on by a medical assistant while Dr. Carter looks at x-rays. Jones has six medical problems that concern the doctor. Carter tells him to take it easy or he'll be forced to retire.