Gus, Ritchie, and Clark have been used to being substitutes since they were young. While other kids played on the field, they could only watch from the sidelines. This underappreciated benchwarmer status followed them into adulthood. One day, while watching a baseball game, Gus and Clark saved Nelson, a boy who was being bullied by the starting players. It turns out that Nelson's father is Mel, a well-known billionaire in the area. After learning about what happened to his son, Mel approached Gus and the others with an enticing proposal: he would sponsor their baseball team if they challenged the All-American Elementary School Baseball Team to help benchwarmers like Nelson build unshakable confidence. The winners would receive a brand new, large-scale baseball field funded by Mel.