Monsters, Inc. and Fear Co. take each other on head-to-head in a friendly softball game. But as the competition starts to heat up, Tylor and Val's friendship is put to the test when his family's money troubles and her recent offer to become a jokester come to blows.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Baseball Episode: The focus of the episode is a softball game between Monsters Inc. and Fear Co. It's supposed to be a friendly game, but things get... personal.
- Be the Ball: Parodied. Mike asks the Creepies' Coach for his autograph, but he signs Mike instead of the baseball. Mike is too happy to care.
- Brick Joke: Coach Lizzardo spends the entire game asleep, with some wondering whether he's still alive or not. At the very end of the episode, he's still at the field, the sun already down, when he suddenly wakes up and says "Play ball! Hey, where's my glove?" (Sulley took it to give to Mike.)
- The Bus Came Back: Roz returns to umpire the softball game. Bonus points for her sister driving a bus.
- Downer Ending: Monsters, Inc. loses the softball game for the 40th year in a row, and the team is quite disappointed in Tylor for having cost them the game by going to play for Fear Co. To make matters worse, Tylor is not only unable to persuade Johnny to give him a job, but he's fractured his friendship with Val in the process. The only thing good that can be said is that Sulley got Mike a new lucky glove from his idol.
- Et Tu, Brute?:
- Tylor takes the news that Val is going to be a jokester with shock, as she is far more willing to accept the job after she had already made Tylor promise not to accept Johnny's offer.
- The rest of the M.I. softball team looks shamefully at Tylor for costing them the game.
- Exact Words: Sulley is able to get Mike a new lucky glove from the Creepies' Coach. When Mike questions how he did it, Sulley says that he asked and the coach didn't say no. That's because the coach was asleep the entire time, and only at the end of the episode does he realize his glove's missing.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Deconstructed. Tylor chose friend in the fourth episode rather than accept Johnny's generous offer to become a scarer at Fear Co. Now, he's learning the consequences of that choice first hand, as his loyalty to his and Val's friendship has cost him a generous salary he could have used to help support his family, Johnny won't reconsider, and he learns that Val is going to be a jokester after he already sacrificed his dream job for the sake of their partnership. Needless to say, he doesn't take the news well.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Sulley encourages Val to communicate with Tylor about her getting the jokester job, only for Mike to point out that Sulley didn't tell him about the softball game.
- Throughout the episode, Sulley tries to remind Mike that the softball game is a friendly competition. But later on, Sulley himself starts getting riled up and wanting to beat Fear Co when they start to fall behind.
- Innocently Insensitive: Both Tylor and Val are guilty of this. For Val's part, she's trying to admit she got a jokester job, not realizing that Tylor is under a lot of stress over learning his family is on the verge of bankruptcy and is feeling immense guilt over refusing Johnny's offer, which only makes the situation worse when she finally admits she got the job after she had made him promise not to take the scarer position. For Tylor's part, he's too stuck in his worry over the situation with his family and doesn't bother listening to Val's own desires to become a jokester herself, though he has no idea about that job offer until the last minute.
- In the Style of: The Monsters, Inc. theme is played as a sports-styled rock theme in the end credits.
- Kissed Keepsake: After "Stubby" Lizzardo accidentally signs Mike's head, he says he'll never wash it again.
- Literal-Minded: It's Fritz's first softball game, so when he hits a home run and is told to run to home (plate), he leaves the field to run to his home, thinking he may have left the iron on.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Val's hesitancy to tell Tylor that she's going to become a jokester not only makes him more insensitive to her situation, but when she does finally tell him, it comes at the worst possible time; he gets moved over to Fear Co.'s team and scores them the winning catch when his frustrations about his situation boil over.
- Tylor isn't any better off in this situation either. Due to his worries that he can't support his family, he tries to schmooze up to Johnny and brushes off Val's attempts to tell him she's going to be a jokester (not that she's being helpful about it either). He knocks out Skylar and gets sent over to Fear Co.'s team, but his frustrations cause him to catch Val's final hit of the game and win Fear Co. the match, earning him the shame of his teammates and fracturing his friendship with Val.
- Noodle Incident: Chet tries to talk to Coach Lizzardo, but finds him unresponsive. Thinking he' dead, he moans, "Oh, Chet, you did it again."
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Tylor learns at the worst possible time that Val just got a jokester job. Incensed that she was so willing to take the position when he had already promised her he wouldn't take Johnny's offer for the sake of their friendship, he winds up on Fear Co's team and costs M.I. the game. He sulks back to the bus with the rest of his teammates looking on in shame, and Val is left grumbling when he tries to play nice.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Initially Played for Laughs in the beginning of the episode, where Mike is grumbling that Sulley failed to tell him about a softball game.
- Played for Drama later in the episode, where Val can't bring herself to outright say that she was given a jokester job to Tylor until the worst possible moment, at which point Tylor's frustrations about turning down Johnny's offer boil over and he outright wins the game for Fear Co. He might have taken things better if she told him after the game, but not listening to Sulley's advice only made things worse.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Johnny won't give Tylor another shot at becoming a scarer for Fear. Co, as Tylor already turned down his initial offer. Tylor tries his best to get Johnny to reconsider, but Johnny won't budge and had already hired another scarer.
