Stephanie Morgan, a baseball-loving girl, prepares for the first game of the Backyard Baseball League season along with her teammates, Achmed Khan, Kiesha Phillips, Pete Wheeler, and Pablo Sanchez. During batting practice, Stephanie accidentally spits out her "lucky" bubblegum; believing that she is unable to play baseball without it, Stephanie, Achmed, Kiesha, and Pete rush over to the Backyard Sports clubhouse to find another pack of gum, but they are unable to find any there. Per the advice of Dmitri Petrovich, Stephanie and her friends embark around town in search of a snack cart, where she can buy some more gum.
The group chase the snack cart all the way to a pizza parlor called Nick's Pizza, where it is revealed that all of the cart's remaining gum was bought by the Webber twins, Ashley and Sidney. Tony Delvecchio, a worker at Nick's Pizza, offers a pack of gum to Stephanie as a prize if she wins at a Skee-Ball game. Despite her best efforts, Stephanie fails the challenge, causing her to give up hope.
Back at the clubhouse, Dmitri works on making a bubblegum replica for Stephanie, but while testing it out, he ends up blowing a giant bubble that causes him to float into the sky. Stephanie and the others discover Dmitri's predicament and decide to rescue him. Putting her insecurities aside, Stephanie hits a baseball that flies up and pops the bubble, while Dmitri is caught by Pablo, who had found the snack cart that the others were trying to catch up to. Having regained her confidence, Stephanie finally begins playing ball with the team.
That night, Pete, who is hanging from a fence after having gotten his pants caught on it earlier, discovers that he had a pack of bubblegum in his pocket, making Stephanie's whole journey all the more pointless.
Voice cast
Ego Nwodim as Stephanie Morgan[4] (nicknamed "Bubbles"), an African American girl who is a major baseball enthusiast.
Tiffany Haddish as Kiesha Phillips[4] (nicknamed "Flash"), a husky, jovial African American girl.
Arturo Castro as Pablo Sanchez[4] (nicknamed "the Secret Weapon"), a short, athletically talented, and helpful Hispanic boy who normally speaks Spanish.
An uncredited actor also voices an off-screen man at Nick's Pizza who yells at Tony for not greeting Stephanie with enthusiasm. Additionally, some of the other "Backyard Kids" including Angela Delvecchio (Tony's sister), Ernie Steele, Lisa Crocket, Marky Dubois, Mikey Thomas, and Vicki Kawaguchi make brief unvoiced cameo appearances at Steele Stadium.
Production and marketing
Along with the announcement that Backyard Sports was being relaunched, it was stated that plans were made to expand the franchise into film.[6] In November 2024, it was announced that production on an animated project was about to begin.[7] The special was produced by Lighthouse Studios, with production finishing by October 2025.[8]
A teaser trailer was released on January 5, 2026, showing a shot of the Backyard Sports League clubhouse/tree house.[‡ 3] It was followed by the official trailer on January 22.[‡ 4]
A teaser for a new Backyard Baseball game was included in the special, between the last scene and the credits.[9]
Future
Playground Productions executives Lindsay Barnett and Chris Waters have stated an interest in producing more Backyard Sports animated projects, including a potential scripted series, if the special is successful.[4][10]
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