A baseball is a ball that has a grooved surface to allow it to roll along the ground as players run from base to base. The game has been played for centuries, but has only recently gained wide popularity in the United States and other countries. It is a team sport, with each team consisting of nine players. Each player is assigned a position, and the goal is to score points, called runs, for your team. The team that wins the most points, or runs, at the end of the game is the winner.
The game is played on a large field, divided into three sections by bases. Each section is bordered by a rope or foul line, and the team that plays defense, or the fielding team, tries to stop the other team from scoring points. The fielding team consists of a pitcher, catcher, and several other players who stand in different areas of the field. The four infield players stand close to the bases, while the three outfielders are farther away from the bases. Each team can move their fielders to different positions in the field during a play, which is called shifting.
To begin a game of baseball, the batting team sends their players up to home plate in a particular order, which is called the lineup. The batters take turns batting until all the members of the team have had their turn. The pitcher then throws the ball to the batter. The batter can hit the ball in a variety of ways, but he must touch each base before running back to home plate, and the runner must touch each of the bases in the correct order in which they are marked on the field, before the fielding team can tag him out.
When a batter hits the ball and touches all of the bases before coming back to home plate, he has scored a run for his team. A hitter can also run all the way around the bases and into home plate, which is known as a grand slam. This is very rare, but can be a huge momentum changer in a game.
The purpose of the fielding team is to prevent the batting team from scoring any runs, and there are many ways they can do this. One method is to catch a batted ball before it hits the ground, another is to tag a runner without touching the base they are going to, and so on. Each team is allowed three outs per inning, and after the third out has been recorded the teams switch places, and the next team starts batting.
Some of the rules of baseball are not obvious to casual spectators, and there is a lot of specialized vocabulary that must be learned before watching a game. For example, the batter is considered to be out if the pitcher throws the ball outside of the strike zone, the batter swings at the pitch and misses, or the ball goes over the home plate.