Getting into sports: Baseball

This is going to be a start of a series of post about the basics of major sports because I want to reply to a comment that asked me to help him get into sports.

Because the Baseball World Series, or championship series, is about to begin, this post is going to be about baseball - America's pastime.

Here's the absolute must knows for baseball:
- The baseball field consists of an infield and outfield.
- The infield is primarily made of dirt and has the three bases: first, second, and third. The infield also includes home plate.
- The outfield is made of right, center, and left field. It is either grass or turf.
- A game consists of 9 innings.
- Each inning is divided into a top and bottom halves.
- In the top half of an inning, the away team bats and the home team pitches.
- In the bottom half of an inning, the home team bats while the away team pitches.
- Each half of an inning last for 3 outs.
- Outs can be made by:
- striking out a batter
- catching a ball before it hits the ground
- if the ball hits the ground, a player can pick it up and throw it to the base which the batter is running for. If the ball gets there before the batter, he's out and if not, he's safe.
- To strike out a batter, a pitcher must throw 3 strikes to the batter.
- Strikes are pitches that are: swung at by the batter and missed, a pitch the batter doesn't swing at, but is within two inches off the edges of home plate and between the knees and stomach area, or is a pitch the batter hits, but is hit foul (not in between first and third base) *note: The last example applies until there is two strikes. Once there is two strikes on a batter, fouling a pitch no longer counts as a strike.
- If the pitch isn't a strike, it is considered a ball. If the pitcher gives up four balls to a batter, the batter gets a walk, or a free pass to first base.
- To score a run a batter must reach first base, advance to second, third, and then to home without making an out.


If you somewhat understood the stuff above, try and watch a inning of baseball and it'll make more sense. If you didn't understand what I wrote, try reading it again or google it!