Baseball

Baseball is a team sport in which two teams take turns batting and fielding. The batting team tries to score runs by hitting a ball thrown by the pitcher and then running around four bases arranged in a diamond: first, second, third and home plate. A run is scored when a batter or runner reaches home plate safely after touching the bases in order. The defending team has nine players on the field in standard baseball.

Its pitcher throws toward the batter, while the other fielders try to catch the ball or get runners out before they reach a base. A batter can also reach base without hitting the ball, for example by drawing a walk after receiving four pitches outside the strike zone. The strike zone is a defined area over home plate that helps determine whether a pitch is a strike.

A standard professional baseball game consists of nine innings, although extra innings may be played when the score is tied. Each inning has two halves: one team bats while the other fields, then they switch roles. A half-inning ends after the batting team records three outs. An out can result in several ways, including a strikeout, a caught fly ball or a runner being tagged while off a base.

Batters use a wooden or metal bat, depending on the competition, and the ball is generally made with a rubber or cork center surrounded by yarn and covered with leather or synthetic material. Successful play combines timing, hand-eye coordination, running speed, throwing accuracy and tactical decisions. Because the sport alternates between brief explosive actions and periods of waiting, its physical demands differ from those of sports involving continuous movement.