Underdogs Never Lose

"The clacks company was a big bully, sacking people, racking up the charges, demanding lots of money for bad service. The Post Office was the underdog, and an underdog can always find somewhere soft to bite."

— Going Postal

The team that is expected to lose the critical game In-Universe will win.

The underdogs might be a saved Ragtag Bunch of Misfits or just average Joes in over their heads. But in the David Versus Goliath game, they will win, usually (and often literally) at the last second (always to the surprise of everyone but the viewer). This may involve Improvised Training, a Golden Snitch, or even Applied Phlebotinum if there Ain't No Rule against it.

In the case of a Based on a True Story film where the real-world team eventually did lose, the movie will cut away at their biggest win (or frame their loss as a victory of another kind) and Hand Wave or ignore the less successful parts of their history. Second Place Is for Losers.

This trope is most dominant in Western media. Sports-based Japanese animation is structured around Team Spirit and effort, and writers do their best to stay true to that and let the weaker team lose. Western writers and producers also write of Team Spirit, but they tend to express it as "if you have Team Spirit, then you will beat the other team."

Related to The Good Guys Always Win and the Hard Work Fallacy. Invincible Incompetent is this trope as used in fiction. Can overlap with the Unspoken Plan Guarantee — both tropes happen because watching a foregone conclusion happen as expected, whether because it's part of the plan or because the expected winner is expected to win, is boring for the audience.

See also Second Place Is for Winners, for cases where the underdog loses, but scores a moral victory for going the distance. See also Disqualification-Induced Victory for cases where the underdog also loses, but manages to win anyway due to their opponent's disqualification.