Simplified baseball rules

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These simplified baseball rules provide a very basic summary of baseball rules as well as the basics of softball rules. A complete summary of the rules is on the baseball page.

A single game is played by two teams, who, during the course of a game, alternate playing offense and defense. A "season" is played over the course of many months by a group of teams, called a league. Each team in the league plays all the other teams in the league a fixed number of times, though it is not always in round robin format. At the end of the season, the team with the most wins is the winner of the regular season.

The goal of a game is to score more points, which are called "runs" in the language of baseball, than the other team. Each team, usually composed of 9 or 10 players, attempts to score runs while on offense, by completing a tour of the bases, which form a square-shaped figure called a "diamond." A tour starts at home plate and proceeds counter-clockwise. See the image below.

There are four basic tools of baseball: the bat, the ball, the mitt, and the field.

• The bat is an offensive tool, either made of wood or aluminum depending on the game being played. It is a long, hard stick, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter, except at the handle, which is about 1-inch (2.5 centimeters) diameter.
• The ball is white for baseball (though other colors can be used) with red lacing about the size of a fist. Softball uses a white or yellow ball (usually) with white lacing about the size of two fists.
• The glove or mitt is a defensive tool, made of leather, worn on the players hand to aide in catching the ball. It takes various shapes to meet the uniques needs of the defensive position of the player.
• The game is played on a field, whose dimensions vary depending on the age of the players. However, every field has a diamond, with bases at its corners, that the offensive players circumnavigate, as mentioned above. That part of the field close to the bases is called the infield, and that part distant from the bases is called the outfield.

Baseball is played in a series of (usually 9) "innings", each of which is divided into two halves (called "top" and "bottom" in that order: hence the phrase bottom of the ninth). In each half-inning, the offensive team attempts to score runs until three of its players are put "out" (removed from play by actions of the defensive team; discussed below). After the third out, the teams switch roles for the other half of the inning. The "home" team plays defense first, and so plays defense in the top of every inning and offense in the bottom of every inning.

At the beginning of each half-inning, the nine defensive players arrange themselves on the field. One defensive player is called the "pitcher" and stands at the center of the diamond on a designated spot, called the mound or the rubber - a reference to a rectangular plate at the center of the mound. Another defensive player is called the "catcher" and stands on the other side of home plate from the pitcher. Typically four more players are arranged along the lines between first, second, and third bases, and the other three are in the outfield.

Runs are scored as follows: starting at home plate, each offensive player attempts to earn the right to run (counterclockwise) to the next base (corner) of the diamond, then to touch the base at that corner, continuing on to each following base in order, and finally returning to home, whereupon a run (point) is scored. Often an offensive player will achieve a base but be forced to stop there; on future plays (usually in concert with other runners), the player may continue to advance, or else be put out.

A play begins with an offensive player called a "batter" standing at home plate, holding a bat. The batter then waits for the pitcher to throw a "pitch" (the ball) toward home plate, and attempts to hit the ball with the bat. If the batter hits the ball into play, the batter must then drop the bat and begin running toward 1st base. (There are other ways to earn the right to run the bases, such as "walks" or being hit by a pitched ball. See baseball for more.) The catcher catches pitches that the batter does not hit (either by choice or simple failure to connect) and returns them to the pitcher.

If the batter fails to hit a well-pitched ball or if he hits it so that it goes outside of the field of play it is called a "strike". (However, if the ball is hit over the outfield and exits the field there, it is instead (one type of) a "home run": the batter may make and all other offensive players on bases may complete a tour of the bases and score a run. This is the most desirable result for the batter.)

When a batter begins running, he or she is then referred to as a "runner". Runners attempt to reach a base, where they are "safe" and may remain there. The defensive players attempt to prevent this by putting the runners out using the ball; runners put out must leave the field (returning to the "bench" or "dugout", the location where all the other inactive players and managers observe the game).

There are many ways that the team on defense can get an offensive player out. For the sake of simplicity, only the five most common ways are listed here:

1. the "strike-out": occurs when the batter acquires three strikes before hitting the ball (within the field); the batter never becomes a runner. (Hence the phrase "Three strikes and you are out".)
2. the "ground out": when the batter hits the ball but a defensive player retrieves it after it has touched the ground and throws it to another defensive player standing on first base before the runner arrives there.
3. the "force out": occurs when a runner is required to run to a base (by rule) but fails to reach it before a defensive player reaches the base with the ball. The "ground out" is actually a special case of "force out."
4. the "fly out": if a defensive player catches a hit ball before it touches the ground, the batter (now a runner) is out (regardless of his location).
5. the "tag out": while between bases, a runner is out if a defensive player touches him with a held ball.

The rules of baseball are much more complicated than can be presented here. A summary of these rules is on the baseball page.