Whether it’s the satisfying thwack of metal cleats on hard dirt, or grass-stained knees as you slide valiantly past third base, baseball is an American sport with global appeal. The game has a rich heritage that extends back centuries, and continues to grow and expand today with dozens of professional Major League teams and millions of enthusiastic fans. There’s a lot to love about this enduring pastime, including the way it provides a healthy outlet for physical activity while promoting teamwork and a sense of community.
In the simplest terms, a baseball game is played between two teams of nine players. One team is the batting team and attempts to score points, or runs, while the other plays defensively in the field. During each inning, the batting and fielding teams switch roles. The goal of the defense is to get the batting team’s players “out” in a variety of ways, including striking them out with a batted ball, forcing them to return to their previous base, or throwing them out at the next one. Once three outs are recorded, the batting team is out of the game, and the defensive team takes over.
To begin a play, the pitcher throws the ball to the batter. The batter must hit the ball in a way that puts it in play, so that the eight fielders can catch it or throw it out to get the player. The batter must also avoid getting “out,” which can happen in a number of ways, including missing the ball completely and failing to touch any other bases before attempting to return to home plate.
A runner is considered safe when the umpire declares that they have reached a base without being touched or tagged by a fielder with the ball. A runner is also considered safe if they reach the base before the batter has returned to home plate, or if they make it to a base before the batter has even attempted to run there.
The regular season for a baseball team lasts 162 games from early April to the last week of September. The teams with the best records in each of their divisions qualify to play in the playoffs. The winners of the postseason earn a spot in the World Series, where they compete against the winner of the other two divisions for the championship title. A good understanding of the rules of baseball can help you understand the nuances of this exciting sport, and increase your enjoyment of each play. In addition to a numbered scoreboard that displays the current score and innings, many stadiums feature traditional manual scoreboards, which focus on essential information and offer a nostalgic connection to the game’s long history. The scoreboards typically show the visiting team’s name or logo on top and the home team’s name or logo on the bottom. This arrangement helps fans quickly identify their team’s statistics. In addition, an inning-by-inning line score shows the total number of runs scored for each inning.