I see Three Little Pigs and a Big Bad Wolf, and perhaps Mother Goose playing third, and Jack Sprat is up to bat (hey, a rhyme!)–but what does that have to do with baseball? Why are the cat, fiddle, dish, spoon, and cow in the dugout?? Who’s that at shortstop???
Comics I Don't Understand 
It just a Mother Goose and/or Fairy Tale mashup. All the assignments listed above seem correct; the issue that bothers me is that Hilburn did not bother to use recognizable characters for the umpire and the solitary baseman standing between first and second.
P.S. Given that “Jack… could eat no fat“, it seems a little bit odd that he would want to “…bring home the bacon“.
P.P.S. “Who” is not at shortstop, he’s first base. Nobody is (shown) at shortstop.
Mmmm, pork RBIs!
@ Dana K – That must be a side effect of the roasted mushrooms that Boise Ed mentioned.
Nobody is the pinch hitter; as for the short-stop, I Don’t Give A Damn.
I thought the goose was shortstop and the third baseman was off panel.
I’m guessing that Hilburn started with “bring home the bacon”, and worked out a setup that would get there “in many ways”. If he gets the hit, the pig runners can score, thus bringing home the bacon (Pork RBIs, as Dana K said). Also, since it’s the end of his contract, if he can win the game, he can get a good renegotiation, or sweet deal with another team, and bring home the bacon that way.
At the 3rd base end of the path, yes. that’s a duck.
Why a duck? Why a no chicken?
“but what does that have to do with baseball?”
Having them play baseball is a setup for the punchline “bring home the bacon”
@ Kilby – maybe the bacon is a different cut to the fatty belly slices so beloved in the USA.
I suppose it could be Canadian bacon†, but then the Red team would have to be Toronto (whose colors are blue, of course), or some other minor league team that wears red.
P.S. † – Anyone who thinks that American bacon is too fatty should be extra careful when ordering “Speck” (bacon) from a German butcher shop (or supermarket deli counter). While they do have cuts here that are similar to the American variety‡, there is another kind of German “Speck” that is a solid slab of white pork fat. I’ve never tried it (it looks revolting), but I have been told that when sliced extremely thin, it is an popular side item (along with pickles and crackers) when drinking ice-cold vodka.
P.P.S. ‡ – Most German supermarkets carry prepackaged (sliced) American bacon, but in most cases only one or two brands. (I’ve seen American supermarkets that stock literally dozens of brands and varieties.)
I have become a happy customer of pre-cooked bacon. You can still cook it more, for temperature and some crisping, but it avoids all the splatter and disposing of the liquid fat.
@ Mitch – That’s something I would never expect to see anywhere in this country (the demand is simply not present), but I would be interested to know how the “sell by” dates compare between the cooked and uncooked products.
I’ve seen things from the UK about different types of bacon. Here’s a bit from a BBC source:
There are three types of rasher: back (from the loin, the leanest and most expensive), streaky (from the belly, it’s the fattiest and often tastiest cut) and middle (back and streaky bacon in one cut).
My understanding is that “Canadian Bacon” is a trimmed version of back bacon.
It’s not unknown to use “bacon” as a humorous term for pigs. I’m sure some have seen the “Makin’ Bacon” poster from days gone by.
I think the setup is so the piggies can go “wee wee wee” all the way to home plate.
Also, I was reminded of this old commercial.