The game of baseball is a team sport where players hit the ball with bats and run around bases. If they get past 3 points called bases before being caught out by a member of the opposing team, they score a point for their team. The game became very popular during the 20th century, when organised leagues were set up in different countries.
The goal of the defensive team (also known as the fielding team) is to prevent the batter from getting on base. This is done by catching the batted ball before it touches the ground, or throwing it to a teammate who can tag the batter out before they reach a base. In addition, the fielding team must also keep runners from advancing around the bases by making sure they don’t run out of bounds.
A team’s pitcher throws the ball to the batter, and a batter will be put out if they miss the pitch or fail to swing at a pitched ball that passes through an imaginary “strike zone” in front of home plate. An umpire stands behind home plate to judge which pitches are strikes. A batter can also be put out if they hit the ball into foul territory, if they have two strikes already against them, or if they hit the ball so hard that it goes out of the playing field.
In order to improve their chances of hitting the ball, a player must train by doing exercises that will increase their reaction speed. This includes explosive fast-twitch drills, short hops, and first-step drills for infielders and outfielders. For hitters, a good training regimen will involve hitting soft balls off a tee and using a launch monitor to track their power.
Before a game starts, each team chooses which nine of its players will be in the lineup. This is called the batting order, and it cannot be changed once the game begins. The teams’s manager, assistant managers, and coaching staff work together to decide which players will bat, which ones will play defense, and how the game should be played.
Once the game has begun, the batting team takes its turn, and each of its players will walk up to home plate in an order that is determined at the start of the inning. If a player is unable to bat, they will be replaced with a pinch hitter.
The pitcher will then attempt to get the batter out by throwing them three strikes. When this is achieved, the inning ends and the teams change places. The game continues until one team wins. The game of baseball has a long history, including reports of versions of the game without official rules in North America in the 1830s. The game became very popular during the 20th Century, when organized leagues began to form all over the world, including in Japan and Australia. The game was also a source of joy and inspiration for black Americans during the time of segregation in the United States.