‘Pitch’ Postmortem: Mo McRae on Blip’s Tense Trade Day, ‘Locker-Room Talk,’ and Why You Should Be Watching

Warning: This interview about the “Alfonzo Guzman-Chavez” episode of Pitch contains spoilers.

Breathe! Fan favorite Blip was not traded in this week’s episode of Pitch. Actor Mo McRae knows some people were nervous: “It’s very similar to Sons of Anarchy, where people felt like my character, [Tyler], was in danger, and they wanted to get a heads-up as to what was going on and what was happening,” he says. “So people were definitely a little concerned because they like the dynamics of a Blip character with Ginny, and now, people seem to be really connecting to the Blip and Evelyn relationship, so they don’t want to see that disrupted.”

Here, McRae chats about those core relationships, his on-and-off-the-field bonding with Mark-Paul Gosselaar (the two have launched a production company together), and why he hopes the Fox drama, co-created by This Is Us mastermind Dan Fogelman, continues to find an audience.

Mandi Bierly: Did you already know when you read the script for this week’s episode that Blip wasn’t going anywhere?
Mo McRae: Based on my contract, I didn’t think I was traded [Laughs]. But who’s to say? Maybe I would have been playing for a different team and dealing with it that way. Maybe there was going to be a spinoff or something with me and Meagan [Holder, who plays Evelyn].

What made Blip a character you wanted to play?
It was so many things. I’ve played a lot of these intense roles over the past couple of years, I’m telling you. I was really looking for something that I could showcase the lighter side, and still have strength, and vulnerability, and charm, and humor. When I got this character breakdown, it checked every box I was looking for next in my career. It was unbelievable. Like a dream come true, literally. He’s married. He’s a good leading man at home. Has kids. Supportive.

Had you met Meagan before you were cast as husband and wife? Was there a chemistry test?
We never met before. Before we started filming, [executive producer] Paris Barclay, who is an excellent, excellent director, allowed us all to have rehearsal time to get together and establish that chemistry, and get a feel for how we all work individually and see how that will function collectively. From the first table-read with Meagan, I just knew she was really dedicated and committed as an actress. She’s really intelligent. She has really great instincts. She’s very prepared. I don’t make too much fun of her about it, but I’m always blown away at the table-read when she shows up with all these little dividers, and tabs, and stickers, and different colored markers and colored pencils for different moments of the script. I’m like, “Jesus Christ!” She is like a junior high school English teacher. [Laughs]

They’re the most relatable characters on the show in many ways. What’s important to you and Meagan to bring out in that relationship?
We both individually have very specific goals about our characters in relation to the relationship, and then the relationship in its totality. I know for her, it was very important to showcase the strength and the importance of that role. The wife is often seen as like a token, or a trophy, in many of these scenarios. In all actuality, she is the backbone of that household. For me, I felt like it was important to try to find that balance between really, really valuing your career, what you do for a living, and how you are presented to the world and equally honoring your household, uplifting your partner, and being there for your kids. Together, we felt like it’s great to show two people that love each other. They’re another team. There’s the team that I have with the Padres, and then there’s a whole other team as well.

We’ve seen them deal with a disrupted family vacation, and now Evelyn wants to buy a new home in San Diego. What’s the next hurdle for them?
The writers are doing some really interesting twists and turns with the relationship. One thing I’ll say is that for the bulk of our relationship, she has been supporting my dreams, so I think there’s a little bit of a switch that has to be balanced anytime a relationship leans too heavily in one direction. I think there’s going to be some issues, some conflict ahead, of just trying to navigate the desires of both our hearts. Keep the household afloat. Keep everything steady. But as she decides to want to expand in the direction that I didn’t think about, how do we cope with that? It’s a little bit of a fork in the road.

The relationship between Ginny and Blip is also incredibly strong. I love that they can have the kind of moment they had in this week’s episode — when he’s basically like, “I need to worry about me, for once” — and then come back together to wait out the trade deadline. How much pressure do you think Blip feels to be there for Ginny? How do you view that friendship?
I feel like he has a tremendous amount of pressure to be there for Ginny in multiple ways, because there’s a personal obligation because of their relationship. There’s a genuine care there. He loves her, she loves him. She’s a part of the family. So there’s that, and you don’t want to disappoint anyone in that type of scenario. Also, I think within the team, and in the bigger scheme of everything in terms of doing his job, which is winning, he put his name on the line and vouched for her. He rallied to get Mike to believe in her, to get the team to be more supportive. Since he’s done that, his reputation is directly connected to hers. That’s like an unspoken thing: I don’t think he has ever held it over her head, but I feel like there’s an awareness of the fact that “Hey, I vouched for you, I need you to deliver.” Because [your performance] is a reflection on me and my judgment, and my desires for the team to win and to do well.

I want to see a flashback to when they first became friends. Is that something you’re hoping to see?
Oh yeah, definitely. I would love to see what that was like, and if I immediately embraced her, or did she have to earn it, and what was the turning point in our relationship that helped us get to where we are now. I know in real life … one of my best friends, another actor named Omari Hardwick, when we first met, it was under very volatile circumstances, like people had to hold us back. It could have went to blows. But over time, he became like an older brother to me. I feel like it started off really bad, but there was a respect that was earned in that moment of him holding his ground, and me holding mine, which allowed us to always have that moving forward. I’m just interested to see what the dynamics at the beginning of the Ginny and Blip relationship were.

The Blip and Mike Lawson friendship is a really fun one to watch. Mike clearly respects Blip’s opinion, and Blip can kind of talk him into things, like planting the seed that Ginny should know about Mike’s romantic relationship with Amelia. How do you and Mark-Paul look at that friendship and the importance of it in the show?
It’s really an art-imitating-life, life-imitating-art type of scenario. I genuinely respect him, and love him, and admire him on so many levels in the same way that I feel Blip looks at Mike Lawson. I think it’s a mutual thing. It creates an environment where you can deal feedback, and notes, and honest opinions about what should happen and what should not happen. There’s so much mutual love and respect.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, he’s been in this industry for, like, 30 years. I’ve worked with a lot of actors who’ve been in the industry for a long time, and at a certain point people become jaded, cynical, and that fire has been doused in a lot of ways. I would not have been surprised if that was the case considering he’s been working so long as an actor; but not only is that not the case, it’s the total opposite. He’s approached this role, and you can see it in what he does onscreen, with an almost reckless abandon. The amount of dedication and commitment that he’s put in has been incredibly inspiring to me.

We decided to take it even beyond the show. We started a production company together. We wanted to keep that vibe and that chemistry going and continue to create, keep bouncing off of each other. That’s why I think this Blip and Mike relationship is the same thing: they live different lives, but they have the same goals essentially, with the same work ethic and same drive.

Is it TV shows you’re looking to develop with your production company?
We want to start more in the commercial space. There’s some pretty big brands that we’re in talks with now. We’re going to do some content connecting brands with their audiences by using more narrative storytelling as opposed to traditional 30-second commercials. We just really want to expand the way brands connect with their audiences, and give them more compelling content.

Looking big-picture at Pitch: You’ve said before that as a father of a daughter yourself, Ginny Baker’s journey is one you’re happy to see represented on TV.
Absolutely. I’d go as far as to say that the favorite part [of the show] for a lot of people is to see a woman go into a world like professional baseball that has been male-dominated. To see a character who is young and beautiful, growing and intelligent, talented and strong, go into that environment and find success, it’s really encouraging. The best thing about it is that I can see how the mentality of Ginny Baker can be applicable in any other arena where women feel like there’s a glass ceiling. … Those barriers are now being torn down artistically, which leads to you believing that it can happen in a physical world.

We’ve already seen Pitch address some serious issues, like when Ginny commented on a sexual assault case making headlines when she appeared on a talk show. Do you think it’s a show that could take on Donald Trump’s concept of “locker-room talk”?
I think these writers have shown to be fearless in the way they dealt with the sexual assault conversation in that episode. There’ll be privacy issues that we’ll address as well. I believe the writers are really looking to delve into these hot-button issues, and just pose more questions and add a perspective to the dialogue — not necessarily try to taint the conversation in any way with their opinion of it, but just explore it, like, let’s go deeper into that conversation.

In terms of “locker-room talk,” it’s interesting because a lot of the guys that are on the Padres [in the show], the extras in the backgrounds, they were former MLB players. I have a lot of friends who are athletes who play in the NBA and NFL, and to be honest with you, the thing that has been the resounding narrative from all of these guys is that is not the way men discuss women in the locker room. That’s a sexual assault, what he was making reference to. I played sports in high school coming up, and that’s just not general “locker-room” conversation. I’m just a little disappointed now that that is the perception that women may now have — when men are among themselves, that’s what they discuss — and that is not the case. I personally have never been around that. I don’t know how many locker rooms he’s been in anyway. I don’t know what sport he played.

In an interview before the show premiered, Paris Barclay said sooner or later, someone’s going to ask Ginny about Black Lives Matter. The idea of taking a knee during the national anthem — is that something you could see Pitch diving into?
I think we could definitely dive into it because it’s topical, it’s happening. The story, if you really look at it, it’s set in present day, and what do these people that have this profession have to endure on the field and off the field? That is something. It’s not new, because if you look at when Muhammad Ali was in his prime, and you have guys like O.J. Simpson who chose not to be as vocal. Then you had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You had your different athletes during different times take political stances, and some didn’t. It was always a question. There was always a lot of conversation around it. I think that might be something that we end up dealing with on the show. What is Ginny’s stance? What is Blip’s stance? Even more curious: What is Mike Lawson’s stance on the whole thing? How would he feel? Because I always feel like in times when people feel like they’re oppressed, really the change happens when people that look like the oppressors stand up for the oppressed.

The show is about so much more than baseball, as we’ve discussed. But what might surprise viewers about the kind of training you did for the role?
We spend a lot of time — Kylie, Mark-Paul, and I — throwing, long tossing, hitting, and doing things specific to our positions. In all honesty, one thing that I overlooked was sliding. Now I need to practice sliding better. [Laughs] Sliding is really difficult. I’ve got to work on that. That might surprise people. I never played baseball when I was coming up, so for me it’s been a real process to be able to actually make great contact, and drive the ball, and get location on my ball, and increase the velocity. We’ve put months in to try to get to be as authentic as possible. We really want to honor the sport, America’s favorite pastime. We don’t want to look like a bunch of actors that don’t take it serious.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?
The only thing I guess I want to say, in closing, is reiterate how thankful I am to be a part of the show, and I hope more people tune in because it’s inspirational, it’s compelling. Then also, it’s just entertaining. I’ve been doing this work a very long time as an actor, and this is one of the few things I’ve been a part of where all the way from my grandmother, to my younger brother, to the 40-something-year-old woman in the airport, to the 22-year-old guy in college that plays baseball … so many people tune in and find something that resonates with them. I just hope that it continues to find its audience, because there’s something in it for everybody, truly.

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