Baseball is back in season once again. Last year, baseball lovers and all of New York were glued to the World Series. The Yankees gave the LA Dodgers a run for their money but went home without a trophy. Coming off that high, many of you might be tempted to watch this new season from the beginning but don’t have a clue about baseball. It may seem daunting and scary, don’t worry, I’ll guide you along the journey!

The Rules Of The Game

Baseball is played with 9 fielders on the field on defense Each one has a different position which the diagram below shows:

Right by the catcher in those little white boxes there will be a batter on the other team who is trying to hit the ball thrown by the pitcher who is in the middle of First base, Second base, Third base, and home plate (the little white diamond by the catcher). The pitcher will throw the ball and the batter tries to hit it. When the batter is in that square next to home plate (that box is called a batters box) there is a zone that stretches from the kneecaps of the batter to the batters shoulder. This is the strike zone. If the pitcher throws the ball in this zone, that is a strike. If the batter swings and misses, that is also a strike. If the ball is out of that zone and the batter doesn’t swing, we call that a ball. If the batter gets three strikes he is out, but if he gets four balls he goes to first base on that little white square and this is called a walk. Now we will discuss how the bases work. The way to get on base is to hit the ball, or get a walk (there are other ways but they are less likely to happen so they will not be discussed). If you hit the ball and run to first base before the ball gets thrown to the first basemen you are safe. If the first basemen gets the ball before you get to first base you are out. You may also get multiple bases on one hit. If you are fast enough getting to second base on a hit, is it called a double and getting to third base on a hit is a triple.

Cool, now that you are on base, you either wait for a walk or for your teammate to get a hit to advance you across the bases. But let’s say (oh no) your teammate hit it to the shortstop and they step on second base before you get there, then you’re out and they don’t have to tag you because you couldn’t go anywhere else and you had to go to second base.  This is called a force out. But now let’s say you’re on second base and noone is on first and your teammate hits it – technically you don’t have to run now because you don’t have someone directly behind you (your teammate) forcing you to go forward. So if they threw it to third base you wouldn’t be out because there is no force out. But now let’s say you went to third anyway if they threw the ball to the third baseman the third baseman would have to tag you before you get to third base because there is no force out.

Alright you know how to run the bases now – let’s figure out how to score. For instance, if you got to second base and your teammate gets a hit and you’re running and hit third base but you have enough time to go the full length so you run and touch home plate you just scored a run. (Baseball people will be annoyed if you call them points, so make sure to call them runs). But there is one other way to score runs. There is a wall all around the field and two lines that are aligned with first base and third base called foul lines. To get a hit the ball has to drop between these foul lines. If it drops outside the foul lines toward the stands this is a called a foul and you get a strike, but if you have two strikes already there is no strike awarded. Alright back on track – if you hit the ball over the fence in the outfield (the outfield is where the left fielder, right fielder, and center fielder play, it is that green part in the top of the image below, (the infield is where the first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, catcher, and pitcher are) and it is between the right foul line and left foul line, then it is a homerun and however many people are on base score including the batter. For example, if there are two people on base a homerun will be three runs.

Baseball games are nine innings. “What’s an inning?” you may ask. An inning has a top and a bottom the home team always gets the bottom innings and the away team always gets the top innings. But what role does this play in the game? The top means the away team will be batting first and the home team batting second in the bottom of the inning. An inning goes from top to bottom when three outs are recorded in that half inning and after the bottom of the inning ends the inning changes (For example, when three outs in the bottom of the first inning are recorded, the game goes to the top of the second). The only time this doesn’t happen is when the home team is winning in the top of the ninth inning. When the home team is winning in the top of the ninth inning and records three outs in that half inning the game is over the home team wins. But let’s say the home team isn’t winning in the top of the ninth. Let’s say the score is 2 to 3. If the home team gets 2 more runs to get the score to 4-3, then the home team automatically wins. This is called a walk-off. But what if it’s tied and the home team didn’t win in the bottom of the ninth? then we go to extra innings (ex top of the tenth, bottom of the tenth and so on) during extra innings there is a runner on second base to start each half of the inning and the game plays on with normal full innings, unless the home team scores more than the other team in the bottom of the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and so on.

Big Names To Know

Juan Soto: Juan Soto just signed the biggest contract in MLB (Major League Baseball) history at $765 million for 15 years with the New York Mets. He’s 26 years old and has been playing in the MLB since he was 18 and shocked many with his amazing hitting skills.

Shohei Ohtani: Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese baseball player who used to have the biggest contract in MLB history until Juan Soto. He currently plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers where he is a fan favorite who is also making history. He is also considered the best player that can play both pitcher and batter.

Baseball Terms You Should Know

• “Grand Slam” A grand slam is when there is a runner on first base, second base, and third base, and the batter hits a home run.
• “Ejection” When the umpire (Baseball’s version of a referee, there is one at each base) sends a person out of the game. This can be Players, Coaches, Managers, Even fans.
• “RBI” RBI stands for Run Batted In. It is a stat that is tracked amongst batters; it means how many runs you drove in during your at bats.
• “Steal” A steal is when a runner is on base and runs to the next base while the pitcher is throwing the ball. The catcher has to throw to the base the runner is stealing and the fielder there has to try to tag the runner out before he gets there in time.
• “Bullpen” the bullpen is a room with Relief Pitchers and Closing Pitchers for when the pitcher that starts the game (Starting Pitcher) gets tired or loses his edge (Closing pitchers are most commonly used in later innings).
• “Rotation” The rotation is a group of 5 starting pitchers that start games when assigned. So if starting pitcher one started today starting pitcher two would be next or whatever the coach decides.
• “Robbery” A robbery is when a batter hits a ball that is going to go over the fence for a home run but the Left fielder, Right fielder, Center fielder jump up at the wall and catch the ball before it can go over.
• “Play Ball” is what the home plate umpire will say at the start of the game. This officially marks that the top of the first has started.
• “Double play” A double play is when 2 outs occur on the same play. For example: A ground ball hit to the shortstop with a runner on 1st, the shortstop steps on second for the first force out then throws to first hopefully getting the second force out at first.

While the season has most definitely started, it’s not too late to get caught up. There are 162 games in the MLB season.  I hope this encourages you to sit down and watch a game by yourself or with family and friends or even better, go to a game in person. New York City has two of the best stadiums and teams in the country.  I better catch you watching some games soon now that we can finally “Play Ball!”