Baseball, also known as American baseball or simply as the world’s favorite pastime, is a team sport played between two opposing teams. It has become one of the most popular sports in North America, and it spread to many parts of the world during the 19th century, including Central and South America and Asia. The game is played in a field called a diamond, with four bases numbered counterclockwise from home plate. The objective of the batting team is to score as many “runs” or points as possible before they receive three outs. A run is scored when a batter hits the ball, runs around all three bases and returns to home plate before the defensive team tags him out. When a runner is able to reach all the bases before he receives a third out, his team will have “loaded” the bases, which means that any fair hit or walk by the next batter will automatically result in a run being scored.
To play baseball, each team must have nine players: a pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop and third baseman on the defense side; and a hitter, a designated pinch runner, and a center fielder and right fielder on the offensive side. The defensive players stand in a line behind home plate and catch any ball that is not hit by the batter. The batting player, who is wearing white, stands in a box just behind home plate called the batter’s box. He must swing his bat at each pitch to attempt to hit the ball. If he misses the ball, he receives a strike. If he strikes out three times in a row, he is out and the game ends.
The catcher for the defense side waits behind the batter and catches any balls that the batter does not hit. He can also use signals to tell the batter when to hit the ball. The catcher can also throw the ball in various ways to confuse the batter, such as by changing up his pitch speed or using a curveball.
Once a batter has been struck out, the team that was batting will switch places with the defensive team. Unlike some sports, baseball does not have quarters or periods; instead, each inning lasts for nine minutes. The team that scores the most points after nine innings is declared the winner.
After the regular season, four teams from each conference—the best records in their division and the next two highest—make the playoffs. The best-performing teams compete in the divisional round (1st round), the conference championship (2nd round) and finally the World Series (3rd round). Usually, the team with the most wins is declared the champion, although a tie can occur during the playoffs. The league also holds numerous other tournaments throughout the year to promote the game and provide a venue for fans to show their team pride. The most popular are the All-Star Game and the World Series.