How to Play Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball team sport played between two teams of nine players, in which a pitcher throws a ball for a batter to hit before running counter-clockwise around four bases to score, with the team scoring more runs over nine innings winning the game. Deeply rooted in the United States and popular across the Americas and East Asia, it combines individual duels between pitcher and batter with coordinated fielding and base-running strategy.

The unhurried rhythm punctuated by bursts of action and the rich strategy of pitching and fielding give baseball its enduring appeal.

What Baseball Is and How It Is Played

The two teams alternate between batting and fielding. The fielding team's pitcher throws the ball toward home plate, where a batter from the other team attempts to hit it into the field of play. After hitting, the batter runs to first base and tries to advance, base by base, around the diamond to score a run by reaching home plate.

The fielding side tries to record outs to end the batting team's turn. The duel between the player throwing the ball and the player trying to hit it is the heart of the game, a feature it shares with cricket, though baseball's diamond, bases and inning structure are entirely its own.

Core Rules and Outs

A batter's turn is governed by balls and strikes. A strike is called when the batter swings and misses, hits a ball foul, or lets a good pitch pass through the strike zone; three strikes is a strikeout. Four pitches outside the strike zone that the batter does not swing at is a walk, sending the batter to first base.

• Strikeout: the batter is out after three strikes.
• Flyout: a fielder catches a hit ball before it lands.
• Groundout: a fielder throws the ball to first base before the batter-runner arrives.
• Tag out: a fielder touches a runner with the ball while the runner is off a base.
• Force out: a runner is forced to advance and the fielder reaches the base first.

Three outs end a team's half of the inning, and the teams switch between batting and fielding.

Scoring Runs

A run is scored each time a player advances around all four bases and returns safely to home plate. Players can advance on hits, walks or fielding plays. A home run, a hit that allows the batter to circle all the bases in one play, often by clearing the outfield fence, scores at least one run and more if teammates are already on base.

The team with more runs after nine innings wins. If the score is tied after nine innings, the game continues into extra innings until one team leads at the end of a completed inning, so there are no draws in standard play.

Equipment and the Field

The essential equipment is a round bat, a small hard ball and fielding gloves. Batters and base-runners wear helmets, and the catcher behind home plate wears a mask, chest protector and shin guards. The field has an infield in the shape of a diamond, with four bases set 90 feet apart, and a larger outfield beyond it.

The pitcher throws from a raised mound near the centre of the diamond toward home plate, where the batter stands. Foul lines extend from home plate through first and third base to the outfield, marking the boundaries of fair territory.

History and Origins

Baseball evolved in the United States during the nineteenth century from older bat-and-ball games of English origin. Codified rules took shape in the 1840s, and the first professional teams and leagues emerged in the decades after, with the National League founded in 1876 and the American League in 1901.

The two leagues came to form Major League Baseball, and the sport spread internationally, becoming deeply established in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. It has also appeared as an Olympic sport at various Games.

Positions, Competitions and Skills

The nine fielding positions are the pitcher, catcher, four infielders at and around the bases, and three outfielders. The premier professional competition is Major League Baseball, culminating in the World Series, while the World Baseball Classic brings together national teams.

Core skills include hitting with timing and power, pitching with velocity and movement, fielding cleanly, throwing accurately and running the bases intelligently. Because individual matchups recur throughout a game, anticipation and decision-making are as important as physical ability.