"It's Bob's Burgers!"
"You're gonna cheat! That's what you're gonna do! You're gonna win, by cheating!!"
—Louise
The family gets a chance at advertising on the mascot race on the baseball's game, with Gene racing for the restaurant. Bob gets to meet Torpedo Jones, his baseball player hero, and ends up helping him cheat using his burger's grease.
Tropedo:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Linda tells Bob that she already has an epitaph for his tombstone planned—"Order up!" Bob laughs and decides that it's better than what he had planned.Bob: That's good. Let's go with that one.
- Ambiguously Brown: In-universe; Mr. Fischoeder thinks Bob is this (he specifically only asks if Bob's an immigrant, which is non-indicative, but his follow-up comment of calling Bob swarthy definitely indicates he thought Bob was non-white).
- Analogy Backfire: Bob shows that the destruction of the roller coaster is what happens when you cheat, but Gene thinks that cheating is awesome due to how amazing the destruction was.
- Ax-Crazy: When Bob encourages Gene not to cheat, Mr. Fischoeder starts shooting at him. Bob is horrified to learn that this "starter pistol" is in fact fully loaded, and Fischoeder only stops shooting because he ran out of ammo.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Torpedo seems like an amiable guy, but he's a serial bigamist with various families across the country (he cites three of them), and has been greasing since the start of his career.
- Broken Pedestal: Torpedo to Bob, when Bob finds out that he is using his hamburgers grease to cheat with.Torpedo: If you want a role model, pick an old guy. By the time you grow up, they're dead.
- Call-Back: One of the mascots in the race (Sammy Sea Lion) is the same mascot that Teddy watched his ex-wife have sex with in flashbacks in "Bed & Breakfast".
- The Cameo: Ollie has a minor appearance in the baseball stadium. Andy doesn't appear at all, making this the only episode to feature one Pesto twin without the other (though Ollie himself is easy to miss).
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Mr. Fischoeder is the only one to play this straight, as the roller coaster broke down after he took planks, nuts and bolts from it to reinforce the seats of the stadium. Torpedo goes on without punishment for years of cheating, and Gene loses his third race for not cheating.
- Comically Missing the Point: Tina makes quite a leap in logic when she takes Bob's comments about cheating to assume he and Linda are divorcing.
- Daddy's Girl: This episode reveals that if Bob and Linda ever got divorced, Louise would want to stay with Bob.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: Discussed and even inverted; after Tina's monumental case of Comically Missing the Point (seen above), the kids try and "claim" a parent's custody in the event that Bob and Linda are divorcing.
- Epic Fail: Gene somehow forgot what his father's establishment was called, despite working there every day. His reasoning is that he calls Bob "Dad", so the restaurant was always Dad's Burgers to him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Louise seems horrified to learn that Torpedo is a serial bigamist.
- Exact Words: Bob's burgers do in fact help Torpedo pitch better... well, the grease does.
- Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: Tina watches how baseball players smack one another's asses to encourage one another. She then decides to become their water boy, so she can smack them on the asses as well. At one point she says that she is in love with all of them at the same time.
- Given Name Reveal: After going exclusively by his surname for the entire season, Mr. Fischoeder's first name is revealed to be Calvin.
- Gold Digger: Louise says she wants to marry Mr. Fischoeder in order to be rich.
- Hero Worship: Bob has this for Torpedo. As everybody mentions, it's weird that he worships someone of his own age.
- Karma Houdini: While Gene and Mr. Fischoeder suffer karmic retribution for cheating, Torpedo suffers no such consequences and vanishes from the episode after Bob refuses to give him more grease. It could be a case of Offscreen Karma, since it's demonstrated his pitch to atrocious when not using Bob's grease and he evidently hasn't been able to make it big or even keep cheating. Since Bob has cut him off, his winning streak is sure to dry up again in due time.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gene fails in his attempt at a "hat trick" in the mascot races when Captain Pel I. Can pushes him in retaliation for cheating in the previous race, and the roller coaster at Wonder Wharf collapses thanks to Mr. Fischoeder stealing the support beams to build more seats for the baseball stadium. Both of these Bob chalks up to "karma".
- Mistaken Confession: Bob asks Mr. Fischoeder for advice on what to do if he is aware of someone doing something they shouldn't be doing. Mr. Fischoeder assumes he is referring to his own (probably illegal) abortion practice.
- Momma's Boy: This episode reveals that if Bob and Linda ever divorced, Gene would want to stay with Linda.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Torpedo was basically unrivaled in local games with a signature pitch nobody could counter, but when he went up to the big leagues his pitch wasn't anything special, and he didn't last long. It's later revealed he was less than a "Normal Fish", since his victories were based on cheating using ball lubricants.
- Not So Above It All: When Gene asks Bob (who's in the announcement booth) if he's dead, Bob plays along and says yes before clarifying it was a joke.
- Revenge: Louise attempts to cheer for Gene saying to avenge their dead father, even though Bob is still alive and sitting next to her.
- During the final race, Gene decides not to shove Captain Pel I. Can (which he did the previous round) and win fairly. He promptly gets shoved by Captain Pel I. Can as payback for the previous race and loses.
- Secret Other Family: Torpedo has three families. He claims most of the upper-league players have several, but it's clear he's just trying to justify his own actions.
- Shout-Out: The Burger of the Day is called "Take me out to the burger" referring to the song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Bob says that when Torpedo's trademark pitch was off, it was like "hitting candy out of a baby's hand". The rest of the family is confused by his oddly-worded metaphor.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Mascot costumes are impractical enough to walk around in, let alone race in. Gene doesn't even have to cheat to win the first race because all the other mascots are so top-heavy they trip over themselves, whereas Gene's smaller, rounder, and lighter burger costume doesn't have the same design issue.
- Gene wins one of the races by cheating and shoving Captain Pel I. Can. During the final race, he and Pel I. Can are neck and neck, but Gene elects not to shove his opponent and win the race fairly. Unfortunately for him, Pel I. Can is holding a grudge, and shoves Gene as revenge for the previous race.
- Tempting Fate: Mr. Fischoeder claims there's no such thing as karma seconds before the roller coaster falls apart because Mr. Fischoeder took support beams from it.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Although Gene fails to get the restaurant advertising by virtue of being The Ditz, it doesn't matter when Torpedo gets his teammates to hold their post-game party there.
- Unusual Euphemism: "My Wonderdog is hanging out."
- Wham Line: "You think you started my greasing? I've always cheated, Bobby."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Torpedo Jones' cheating doesn't get resolved, as he abruptly vanishes from the episode after Bob refuses to give him more grease.
