The following contains spoilers for The Simpsons season 36 episode 19, “Abe League of Their Own,” now streaming on HuluThe Simpsons' latest parody of modern pro sports pokes fun at a lot of controversies and scandals that have been erupting in institutions like Major League Baseball.The Simpsonshas always been a quietly powerful satire, with some of the show’s best ever episodes being funny, cutting, and emotional in equal measure. WhileThe Simpsons' many sports-centric episodeshaven’t had as much of a satirical bite in lieu of more wacky comedy or character-driven plots, the show has poked fun at some real-life athletes and their careers.
Season 36’s “Abe League of Their Own” is a far more pointed riff on sports, however, with the episode specifically referencing some real-life scandals and controversies that have been haunting major league baseball and professional sports in general. This gives the episodes a slightly harsher edge, especially as it builds to an ending that resolves things nicely on an emotional level but purposefully leaves a painful sting throughThe Simpsons' clear satirical approach. Here’s how “Abe League of Their Own” takes inspiration from real life to tear into modern sports.
The Simpsons' Walkov Gambling Scandal Is A Parody Of Shohei Ohtani’s Translator
How The Simpsons Takes Inspiration From One Of 2024’s Biggest Sports Scandals
The Simpsons' season 36 episode “Abe League of Their Moe” pokes fun at a lot of recent baseball events, including the gambling scandal that surrounded Shohei Ohatni and his translator. “Abe League of Their Moe” focuses on Abe and Moe’s efforts to revitalize the Springfield Isotopes, successfully convincing a rising star from Macedonia to join the team. Fluent in Macedonian, Moe becomes Walkov’s translator. When Walkov is revealed to have been betting on baseball,Moe is ultimately used as a scapegoat by the MLB and fired for “orchestrating” the gambling.
The Simpsonstweaked their version of the story and had Walkov be directly responsible for his gambling, allowing it to build into other elements of the episode’s satire.
This is a parody of the gambling scandal that surrounded Shohei Ohatni and his translator, Ippei Mizuhara in 2024. As reported byESPN, Mizuhara was the translator for an international major league baseball star (Japanese-born Shohei Ohatni) and was revealed to have stolen millions from the player to pay off personal gambling debts.The biggest difference is that Ohatni was cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation while Mizuhara was arrested.The Simpsonstweaked their version of the story and had Walkov be directly responsible for his gambling, allowing it to build into other elements ofthe episode’s social commentary.
The Simpsons Pokes Fun At The Sports Industry’s Lack Of Accountability
The Simpsons Has A Grim View On Modern Sports
The biggest accusation the show throws at professional baseball is that the entire sport lacks accountability. As Moe angrily explains in the episode’s climax, the influx of capitalistic interests changes sports for the worse. Specifically, it allows for powerful figures within leagues to be untouchable for wrongdoing, a criticism that could be levied at plenty of professional athletes.This is where Walkov being responsible for his own gambling becomes important, as it allowsThe Simpsonsto underscore the unfair state of sports by having Walkov face no consequences, even after tearfully acknowledging his guilt to the press.
The Simpsons Calls Out Online Gambling (By Making Bart Addicted To It)
Proof The Simpsons Isn’t Afraid To Have Downer Endings In Their Harsher Satirical Episodes
The harshest elements of satire in “Abe League of Their Moe” is the episode’s riff on online sports gambling. In the United States, sports gambling has increasingly become a divisive topic, especially because of the impact it can have on fans with addictive tendencies.The Simpsonsdives into this by highlighting how both Walkov and Bart have become addicted to sports gambling, leaving both of them desperate to pay back their bad bets. Abe is horrified when he discovers Bart is gambling on a youth-targeted app, and that revelation is what turns Moe against modern baseball.
The episode places part of the blame for Walkov’s gambling on the constant advertising the sports arena has for online gambling. The episode’s second act ends on a dramatic punchline about Moe acknowledging it’s impossible to avoid those temptations in modern sports.It plays into Moe’s ultimately futile attempt to force baseball to reckon with what it has become, and the episode even ends with the league learning nothing, Walkov moving on, and Bart still gambling. It’s a perfectly cynical ending toThe Simpsons' latest satirical riff on pro sports that acknowledges a lot of criticisms with modern sports.
