The 2022 Major League Baseball season is racing toward its final month with most divisions still up in the air. Even if your team is out of the race (sorry fans of NL West teams not named "Dodgers"), you can still celebrate America's pastime by checking out these films that hit it out of the park. We begin our two-part series with a look at fictional dramas about baseball.  

If you like hard-hitting drama:

In 1973, Robert De Niro first caught critics' eyes when he starred as Bruce Pearson, an intellectually challenged, terminally ill baseball player in 1973's "Bang the Drum Slowly." Adapted from the 1956 novel of the same name by Mark Harris, the film chronicles the friendship between star pitcher Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty) and Pearson, the team's less-esteemed catcher.

Another beloved page-to-screen adaptation is 1994's "The Natural," starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, a man born to dominate the baseball diamond. Based on Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel of the same name, the film follows the highs and lows (home runs and strikeouts) of Roy's life and career.

A film that forever changed the perception of the game and still resonates with modern filmgoers is 1989's iconic "Field of Dreams." Kevin Costner plays Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who hears the words "If you build it, they will come" while walking through his corn field. The rest is history. Just two weeks ago, the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs played the second annual "MLB at Field of Dreams game" in Dyersville, Iowa, near the filming site.

Speaking of famous film phrases, in 1992 "A League of Their Own" introduced a five-word phrase that is now enshrined in the baseball lexicon: "There's no crying in baseball!" A drama full of comedic moments, the film starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna, tells a fictionalized story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that operated from 1943 to 1954. This month, Amazon Prime Video released a streaming series based on the film starring Abbi Jacobson and D'Arcy Carden.

If you prefer bloopers and errors:

The 1950s gave us many entertaining films about America's pastime. In 1951, Ray Milland starred in "Rhubarb," a crowd pleaser about a cat that inherits a baseball team. That same year, "Angels in the Outfield," starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh, became an instant classic. A young Joseph Gordon-Levitt starred alongside Danny Glover and Tony Danza in the 1994 remake.

In 1958, baseball got the musical treatment with "Damn Yankees!" The film, adapted from the 1955 Broadway show of the same name (which itself was based on Douglas Wallop's 1954 novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant"), is a modern take on the Faustian bargain. At a time when the New York Yankees completely dominated the sport, a fan of the hopeless Washington Senators struck a deal with the devil so his team would win the pennant. The musical made Gwen Verdon a star in her first collaboration with future husband Bob Fosse.

In 1976, filmgoers fell in love with "The Bad News Bears," a youth baseball team of underdogs and misfits coached by Walter Matthau's Morris Buttermaker. The film spurred two sequels, a short-lived television series, and a 2005 remake.

In 1988, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon began a long partnership with "Bull Durham," a romantic comedy based on writer/director Ron Shelton's experience playing in the minors. Kevin Costner co-stars as catcher "Crash" Davis who prepares Robbins' rookie pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh for his shot at the majors.

A year later, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn and Willie Mays Hayes became household names upon the release of "Major League." Starring Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes respectively, the film was so popular that it launched two sequels.

Check back later this week when we look at non-fictional dramas about the all American pastime we call baseball.