The Basic Breakdown

I realized that I have been writing about my blog without even acknowledging the fact that a lot of my readers probably don’t know much about baseball.  And I am sorry about that. I will try and simplify the rules as well as I can.  Here is a basic breakdown of the sport.

There are 9 innings in a game. Each inning is broken up in a top half and a bottom half. In the top half of an inning the visiting team has a chance to bat, and in the bottom half of the inning the home team bats.

There are 3 outs to each half inning. Outs can be taken by the defensive team in here main ways; getting the batter to hit the ball in the air and be caught (fly out), hit the ball on the ground and throw the ball to the appropriate base (ground out), a strike out (see balls and strikes section).

Three strikes make an out and 4 balls allow the hitter to go to first base. The balls and strikes of the game are determined by the umpire. He is the man standing behind the catcher and he decides which pitch is a ball or a strike. If a player swings at a pitch and misses, it is a strike. A foul ball is also considered a strike. A foul ball is when the hitter makes contact with the ball but the ball goes behind the plate or to the left or right of first base or third base. A pitch count is how you understand what a pitcher has thrown to a batter. It is read from left to right and read as balls and then strikes.

Ex: A 1-0 pitch count reads as, 1 ball and 0 strikes. A 3-2 count (a full count) is the maximum a pitch count can go because, one more ball and the players walks to first base or one more strike and the player strikes out.

A hit is when the batter hits the ball and the defense cannot get the player out by means of a ground out or a fly out. There are 4 types of hits in baseball. A single, a double, a triple, and a home run. Singles are hits that allow the batter to only reach first base.  Doubles and triples work the same way only in regards to second and third base, respectively. Finally, home runs are balls that are hit out of the ball park and into the stands. 

A stolen base is when a player a base, run to the next base before the pitcher can make a pitch to a hitter. 

Ex: Ricky Henderson stole second base from first base.

There are 9 positions on a baseball field.

1)Pitcher-P

2)Catcher-C

3)First Base- 1B

4)Second Base- 2B

5)Third Base- 3B

6)Shortstop-SS

7)Left Field- LF

8)Center Field- LF

9)Right Field- RF

**Designated Hitter-DH

These are the dimensions and other important areas of the baseball diamond.

In my other posts, I wrote about the AL and the NL. These are the two main leagues that make up Major League Baseball. Half of the teams play in the American League and the other half in the National League. Each league is comprised of three divisions, the East, Central, and West divisions. Teams are placed into these divisions based on their respected cities in America. The main difference between the AL and the NL is the fact that instead of the pitcher having a place in the batting lineup, he is replaced by a Designated Hitter, DH. The DH always bats in the place of the pitcher in the lineup because pitcher's usually aren't great hitters. 

Every Major League Baseball roster has 25 players.
8- Position players, a catcher, 4 infielders (1B, 2B, 3B, SS), and 3 Outfielders (CF, LF, RF)
5-Starting pitchers, pitchers that start the game
6- Relief pitchers, pitchers that come into the game when the starters cannot go on
1-Backup catcher
4- Two back up infielders and two outfielders
1- a specialist hitter or a seventh relief pitcher

Teams play 162 games per season and games are simply recorded by a simple win or loss column. 81 games are played at home while the other 81 are played on the road. The more wins a team has, the better the team and the higher chance the team has to go to the playoffs.

I will have a breakdown of the playoffs when the time comes in the season. 

For further explanations visit The baseball Wikipedia page. The link is posted there. 

Questions or comments
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