Baseball is a sport where players try to score runs by hitting balls and fielding them. The game lasts for 9 innings and the team with the most points wins the game. If there is a tie, extra innings are usually played until one team wins.
The game is a lot of fun, especially for fans who love the thrill of scoring a home run and watching their team win or lose. But baseball is also a lot more complex than it might seem. There are many small details that can change the outcome of a game, so it is important to understand how the rules work before you can really get into the game.
There are two teams that play baseball, and each has 9 players on the field at all times. Each team has a pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop and third baseman as well as three outfielders at left, centre and right field.
Each player is in a different position and the coach decides who gets to play each game. Each player must touch a certain part of the ball when they are running with it and they can’t pass another player while they are running.
When a batter hits a ball, they need to hit it hard enough to make it fly out of the field and away from the other fielders. This is known as a ‘home run’ and the batter can run through all of the bases (counter-clockwise) and back to home plate, where the team scores a point or ‘run’ for that player.
A run is worth one point and a runner must touch all of the bases in order, so they need to be able to touch each base with some part of their body as they are running from one base to the next, otherwise they are called out. If they are tagged out, they are out of the game.
The bat and ball are both made out of wood, aluminium or metal materials. Each player also wears a protective glove on their hands and a mask to keep them safe from the elements.
To start a game, the pitcher throws the ball to a member of the fielding team who is called the ‘batter’. They then swing the bat and try to hit the ball.
If the batter misses a ball, it is called a ‘strike’ and they need to hit another one before they are out of the game. They can also hit the ball if it is within a certain area called the ‘strike zone’ and they get three strikes before being out.
Once a player is out of the game, they are replaced by a different player from their team. There are a few different things that can happen when the ball is caught in the air, but each of these things has to be decided by the umpire before it can be determined whether or not the batter is out.