Baseball is a team sport played on a diamond-shaped field with bases arranged at the corners. It is played by two teams of nine players, each taking turns batting and playing defense in the field. The game lasts for nine innings and the team with the most points at the end wins. It can feel a bit complicated to understand the rules of baseball, but it is possible to gain a basic understanding of the game by watching games for a full season. This will help you learn the lingo, better appreciate the strategies involved and become a more invested fan.
Each team is led by a manager to make strategic decisions on player placement, batting order, starting rotation and line-up. In addition to the managers, a team has two coaches who train players on hitting and fielding skills. There are also base coaches who suggest actions to the players on the bases. There are also umpires who declare outcomes and look over the running of the game.
A baseball is a small ball made of either wood or aluminium materials and is around three inches in diameter. Players use wooden bats to hit the ball with. Batters wear a helmet and padding to protect themselves in the event of a collision with another batter or the ground. The catcher, who stands behind the batter to catch any balls missed, wears extra padding in their glove and leg guards. Fielding players also wear a mask to protect their face, hands and arm from being hit by the bat.
If a batter hits the ball and successfully runs to the nearest base before getting tagged out by the opposing team, they score a run. A runner may only advance to one base at a time. If a batter hits the ball and runs to all four bases without being tagged out, this is called a grand slam. This is extremely rare and can dramatically turn a close game in the favor of the batting team.
There are many different statistics that baseball fans track during the game, including ERA (earned run average), home runs and batting average. The batting average measures how often a batter gets on base and how many times they are successful at reaching the next base. A home run is a ball hit into the outfield and usually scores a very large amount of runs.
The complexities of the game make it an entertaining sport to watch. It is also a very profitable sport, with even the lowest paid ballplayers making tens of millions of dollars over a career that lasts into their late 30s. This is a huge incentive for young men to work hard and pursue their dream of becoming a professional baseball player.