Baseball Cheatsheet
Basics
- Field of Play: Diamond with four bases, laid out in a square shape.
- Objective: Score more runs than the opposing team.
- Equipment: Bat, ball, glove, helmet, cleats.
- Innings: Game is played in nine innings, with each team playing both offense and defense in each inning.
Offense
- Batter: Player who is currently at bat.
- Pitcher: Player who throws the ball to the batter.
- Strike Zone: Area over home plate where pitches thrown within it are considered strikes.
- Hitting: Batter tries to hit the ball thrown by the pitcher and reach a base.
- Bases: The four bases are first base, second base, third base, and home plate. A player scores a run when they cross home plate after touching all three bases in order.
- Outs: The team on defense is trying to get three outs per inning. An out is declared when a batter swings and misses three times, hits the ball in the air and it is caught before it lands, or is tagged with the ball before reaching a base.
- Walk: If the pitcher throws four pitches outside of the strike zone, the batter is awarded first base without swinging the bat.
Defense
- Fielding: Team on defense tries to prevent the other team from scoring.
- Pitcher: Throws the ball to the batter.
- Catcher: Stands behind the batter to catch pitches thrown by the pitcher.
- Infielders: Players who play defense in the infield.
- Outfielders: Players who play defense in the outfield.
- Double Play: Two outs in a single play. Commonly, when a ground ball is hit to an infielder, they throw to second base to get the runner out, then to first base to get the batter out.
- Triple Play: Three outs in a single play.
Scoring
- Runs: Scored by crossing home plate after touching all three bases in order. A home run is when the batter hits the ball out of the field of play and crosses home plate, scoring a run.
- Earned Runs: Runs scored off of the pitcher, that would have scored even if the defense had made no errors.
- RBIs: Runs batted in. Awarded to the batter who hits a run-scoring play.
- Errors: Mistakes made by a player on defense that allow a batter or runner to reach base or score.
Rules and Regulations
- Infield Fly Rule: A rule designed to prevent a defensive player from dropping a pop-up on purpose to turn a double or triple play. When there are runners on first and second or first, second, and third bases with less than two outs, an infield fly is called if a fly ball is hit that can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort.
- Designated Hitter Rule: A rule used in the American League, where a team can designate a player to hit for the pitcher, without needing to play in the field.
- Balk: An illegal pitch. The pitcher makes a movement with the ball that simulates a pitch, but doesn’t deliver the ball to the plate.
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