Major League: Back to the Minors is a 1998 movie, distributed by Warner Bros., directed and written by John Warren, with David S. Ward taking the co-writer duties. It is the third film in the Major League series.
The movie features a mostly new cast, with only Dennis Haysbert, Bob Uecker, Corbin Bernsen, Eric Bruskotter, Takaaki Ishibashi, and Steve Yeager reprising their roles from Major League II. The film also marks a shift in the series, as the featured team is no longer the Cleveland Indians, but the Minnesota Twins and their minor league affiliate at the time.
Plot
Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) is now the owner of the Minnesota Twins. Aging minor league pitcher Gus Cantrell (Scott Bakula), who plays for the Fort Myers Miracle, is planning to retire, but then Roger recruits Gus to be the manager of the Buzz, the Twins AAA minor league affiliate.
Gus's mission is to make a real team out of a bunch of players who include ballet dancer turned ballplayer Lance "Lance the Dance" Pere (Kenny Johnson), Frank "Pops" Morgan (Thom Barry), Rube Baker (Eric Bruskotter), Taka Tanaka (Takaaki Ishibashi), Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), pitcher Hog Ellis (Judson Mills), home run hitter Billy "Downtown" Anderson (Walton Goggins), and pitcher Carlton "Doc" Windgate (Peter MacKenzie), who throws the slowest fastball in the minors.
Gus ends up clashing with Leonard Huff (Ted McGinley), the snobby manager of the Twins. One night in Minnesota, Gus and his fiancee Maggie Reynolds (Jensen Daggett) are having dinner with Roger and Huff at an expensive-looking restaurant, where Huff challenges Gus to a game between the Buzz and the Twins, then Huff starts a fight with Gus, and Gus accepts the challenge.
The game is scheduled to take place at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minnesota. The Twins take a 3-0 lead in the 6th inning, but Billy hits a home run that ties the game at 3-3 in the 8th inning. But in the top of the 9th inning, with two outs, while the Twins are up to bat, and Doc is one strike away from striking out home run hitter Carlos Liston (Lobo Sebastian), Huff has the stadium's lights turned off so the game can end with a tie rather than give the Buzz a chance to win in the bottom of the 9th. However, the media says that the Twins were still outplayed by the Buzz.
Huff now wants to bring Billy up to the Twins, even though Billy is not yet ready to go up to the Twins. Billy jumps on the opportunity, and turns his back on Gus. Without Billy, the Buzz start losing again. With the Twins, Billy starts hitting poorly, proving Huff wrong about Billy.
Gus manages to get the Buzz back on track, and Billy is sent back down to the Buzz, where Gus teaches Billy how to get more hits. Gus leads the Buzz to a division title in their league.
Gus issues a challenge for Huff to bring the Twins to Buzz Stadium for another game. The way Gus has issued the challenge, if the Twins win, he'll give his salary for the year to Huff, and if Gus and the Buzz beat the Twins, Gus can take over as the manager of the Twins. Huff accepts the challenge and takes the Twins to South Carolina to play against the Buzz. This time, the Twins take a 4-0 lead in the 6th inning, but the Buzz still manage to come from behind with three runs, and then win the game, 5-4, thanks to a game-winning two run home run by Billy. Gus decides that he wants to stay with the Buzz so he can continue to work with minor-league players on their skills and hopefully turn them into stars.
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