Back up for the best baseball movies on Netflix and other streaming services

The Major League Baseball (MLB) season has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, with baseball fans watching the first spring in the history of the game without the sound of bat crack. And because most of the country is on lockdown, we have more time than ever.

Baseball, more than any other sport, lends itself to cinematic. Filmmakers such as Richard Linklater and Penny Marshall all tried to capture the magic of ballgame.

Whether these movies are new to you or old favorites, there's never been a better time for a baseball movie marathon. So pour a bowl of peanuts, donate your best eye black and watch some of the best baseball movies on Netflix and other streaming services. We can practically smell the freshly cut grass.

Bear the bad news

MPAA Rating: PG
Release Year: 1976
On streaming: STARZ, EPIX
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 97%
IMDb User Rating: 7.3

Originally produced by the family-friendly sports comedy, The Bad News Bears, the film follows a small-front lucky pitcher while trying to train a rag group of Little Leaguers.

What critics say: "Bad news is meant to be a bare comedy, and to make sure it has a lot of laughs. There are so many hurtful parts. ”- Roger Eberta ,, Rogerebert.com

B * stards of baseball

MPAA Rating: Not rated
Release Year: 2014
Streaming: Netflix
Critical Score: 100%
IMDb User Rating: 8.0

The documentary on our list follows The Battered B * sts of the Portland Mavericks, a short-lived minor league team in the 1970s. The film is a family affair, directed by the grandson of the Mavericks owner, and through his interviews with his son, he played for the team and went on to a wonderful acting career (Kurt Russell).

What critics say: "Behind the on-field shenanigans and cynical figures, is the carnival story of the disappearance of Bing Russell, the corporatisation of the game and the attitude that it erupts. - Mark Mohan, The Oregonian

Bull Durham

MPAA Rating: R.
Release Year: 1988
Free streaming: IMDb TV, Roku Channel, Hoopla, Wudu and Tubi
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 97%
IMDb User Rating: 7.1

This romantic comedy writer Ron Shelton earned an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay and it's easy to see why. The story of Kevin Costner's minor-league catcher brought to teach Tim Robbins' hot shot pitcher, which at the time was a hit and became more attractive with age.

What critics say: “This is a baseball film that doesn't break baseball movies. (Nothing is based on big success or big loss.) This is a film that doesn't run like other director's films; It has its own non-rhythmic rhythms, and most of the lines seem like intelligent characters paying attention to them. ”- Pauline Kell, The New Yorker

Eight man out

MPAA Rating: PG
Release Year: 1988
Free Streaming: Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Vudu
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 86%
IMDb User Rating: 7.2
Somewhat forgotten in the dialogue of the baseball film, the eight men were separated by outside major-league deathhorses. From director John Sales, which tells the story of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing a World Series.

What the critics say: "For Mr. Sales, his idealism has never been affected or articulated. The childish excitement of this story has become the worst of all the grown-up world, with eight men running out of the house." - Janet Muslin, The New York Times

Everybody wants something !!

MPAA Rating:
Release Year: 2016
Streaming on: EPIX
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score:% 87%
IMDB User Rating: 6.9
Baseball This may be a stretch for movie purists - baseball action is often limited to just one practice - but we very much like to keep it off the list. During the days before director Richard Linklater's school began, the Texas baseball team moved the setting of the DZZ and Confused High School setting into the Ketzing Lodge.

What the critics say: “Everyone wants something !! Is more than just nostalgic. It is ut utopian, a hormonal pastoral rich in the innocent charm of a children's book. There are so many movies about lustful youth, but it is unusual to find one that looks really healthy. "- A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Field of dreams

MPAA Rating: PG
Release Year: 1989
Streaming on: STARZ
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 86%
IMDb User Rating: 7.5
Clearly, Kevin Costner is Babe Ruth of most movies. The Field of Dreams came out a year after Bull Durham, and was recently selected in the National Film Registry of the United States as a "culturally, historically, historically or aesthetically important" by the Library of Congress.

What the critics say: "Movies these days are often cowardly, scared to take imaginative flights, or do something grand or brave about a movie, where the voice tells the farmer to make baseball diamonds so that Shoess is the only Jackson Jackson out of cornfield and a few. Fly hit the balls. This is the type of film directed by Frank Capra and may have starred James Stewart - a movie about dreams. "- Roger Ebert, Rogerbert.com

A League Their Own On

MPAA Rating: PG
Release Year: 1992
Streaming on: Showtime
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score:% 78%
IMDB User Rating: 7.3
Directed by Penny Marshall and starring Tom Hanks at the peak of his powers, A League calls their version of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League "based on true events" in the early 1940's. Gina gives a delightful supporting cast of Davis, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell.

What the critics say: "Despite the big budget, this league is one of their happiest, most relaxed, most easily laughable laughs this year. It is a serious film that is lighter than air, a very funny movie, which manages to gain some points for feminism in passing. "- Vincent Kenby, The New York Times.

Major league

MPAA Rating:
Release Year: 1989
Streaming on: AMC and EPIX
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 83%
IMDB User Rating: 7.2
The gold standard for Scrubcastle comedies is that Major League-backed Cleveland Indians, whose owners keep up with a team that often loses, will be allowed to move the team to sunny Miami, FL. The star-studded cast features newcomers like Wesley Snipes and Renee Russo, and stars like Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger.

What Critics Say: "'The Major League is a movie that knows what it is. He skillfully balances his comedy with melodrama with agreed surfaces and meets expectations on a timetable. "- Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

Moneyball

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Year: 2011
Streaming on: Hoopla (free of ads) and Starz
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 94%
IMDB User Rating: 7.6
Both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill received the Baseball Athletics general manager Billy Bean's sc-scroll nominations for his performance in this movie about the innovative use of analytics to create his baseball team.

What commentators say: “Front office fies set up an incredibly hilarious baseball drama. In line with Michael Lewis' book about Auckland A.'s 2002 season, director Bennett Miller shows that the love of numbers is tied to the love of the game, and Brad Pitt does his best and sneakiest work as general manager Billy Bean. "- Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

The Natural

MPAA Rating: PG
Release Year: 1984
Streaming on: Netflix, IMDb TV (ads-free) and Sony Crackle (ads-free)
Rotten Tea