What is Baseball?Baseball is a game played by two teams, with each team having nine innings in which they attempt to score runs. The home team always bats second (the "bottom" of the inning) and the visiting team always bats in the "top" of the inning.
In each inning the batting team sends one player, known as the hitter or batter, in turn, to bat (known as an "at bat"), until three hitters are "out", whilst the pitching team have nine players on the field trying to prevent them scoring. If the scores are tied at the end of nine innings, a tenth is played, and if necessary an eleventh, and a twelfth, and so on (both halves of the extra inning have to be completed before the game is resolved, if both teams score a run in the tenth, then an eleventh is played, etc). There are no ties in Baseball. A run is scored by a runner reaching home base, having first touched first, second and third base. Only one runner is allowed on any one base at any one time. Each team only has nine players "on the field" at any one time, but are normally made up of twenty five players (the rest are substitutes). A substitute may be brought into the game at any time (whether because of injury, fatigue, or tactical reasons), but once a player is replaced by a substitute then he is not allowed to return to the game. |
"Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world." -Babe Ruth
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