The game of baseball has many rules that must be followed by players and teams. The main objective of the batting team is to score as many “runs” or points as possible before they receive three outs (which means they have lost their turn at bat). To do this, the batter must hit the ball and run through all the bases in order and touch home plate before the fielding team tags them out.
To play baseball, the two teams must have at least 9 players on each side. The members of the fielding team are called the “fielders”. Each position on the field is designated by a number. These positions include the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop and third baseman. There are also outfielders in left field, center field and right field.
The ball must be thrown from the pitcher’s mound to the batter who is standing on home plate. The batter must then hit the ball with his bat and send it into the field of play in order to get a point or a “hit”. Once the player hits the ball, he must then become a runner and try to reach all the other bases without being tagged out.
When a player reaches a base, it is considered a “run” and it is marked on the scoreboard with an arrow to show which way the runner is going. A runner can only be tagged out if a fielder throws the ball directly to the runner or if the runner touches the base before the fielder touches the ball.
In addition to the number of runs scored, there are a few other statistics that help evaluate a team’s performance. These include hits, bases walked and home runs batted in.
A “walk” is when the batter does not swing at the ball and gets a free pass to first base. A “strike” is when the batter misses a pitch or if the umpire calls four pitches out of the strike zone during his turn at bat.
The game is played for nine innings and the team with the most points at the end of the inning wins. Occasionally, the game may end in a tie and extra innings are required to determine a winner. A game may also be called off due to inclement weather, darkness or a player injury. In such cases, the game will usually resume the next day at the same time and location. Some leagues also have rules requiring that games be finished on a certain date or by a specific time, but these are not universally used. MLB also has a variety of pace-of-play regulations, such as a pitch clock, to speed up the game. In general, the more you understand the basics of the game, the more fun you will have playing it. Good luck!