Maybe This Is Heaven

Hero Image

Title

Maybe This Is Heaven

Subhead

By Ben Elliott

Body Block 1

Baseball increasingly feels like an anomaly in our fast-scrolling, clock-watching world.

The only major American sport not dictated by a clock, baseball unfolds at its own pace — innings go on until three batters are out, and games can continue indefinitely until there’s a clear winner. It requires intelligence and athleticism to play while also encapsulating a goofy looseness that makes it the perfect home for some of the weirdest people to have ever played sports professionally.

The beautiful, idiosyncratic rhythm of baseball makes it a rich setting for storytelling, especially within one of our country’s other great pastimes: the movies.

Field of Dreams, 1989

Baseball movies capture the full spectrum of emotions the game evokes in its fans, from the stoic reverence of The Pride of the Yankees and The Natural, to inspirational underdog stories like A League of Their Own and Moneyball, and the scrappy DIY ethos of kids-in-baseball movies like The Sandlot and The Bad News Bears.

You just need to look at the career of Kevin Costner to find an unofficial trilogy that encompasses the feelings of baseball — For the Love of the Game captures the rewards and sacrifices that come with a major league career; Bull Durham captures a kind of degenerate intelligence that makes the game so alluring; and Field of Dreams stands as a classic in the genre, a testament to the eternal bonds the love of the game can create across generations of families.

Eephus, 2025

Eephus, a new comedy opening at The Triplex this week, is a beautiful continuation of the genre, capturing the final day of a ball field in Western Mass before it’s set to be demolished. We learn everything we need to know about its characters as the game unfolds, with the movie telling their stories in a rhythm that’s strikingly true to life. It’s as loose and lived-in as a Sunday double header, capturing the way the game brings a community together and what’s lost when the final out is called.

These movies — as different as they may be — all speak to the way that baseball makes life better. Because sometimes, as counterintuitive as it may seem in our chaotic world, taking the time to play a meaningless game is the best way to remember what really matters in life.

Showtimes

Showtimes Freakier Friday | 1:00PM, 3:30PM, 6:00PM, 8:30PM The Life of Chuck | 1:15PM, 4:15PM Highest 2 Lowest | 1:45PM, 4:45PM, 8:00PM The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg | 7:00PM

Marketing Signup

Footer