Baseball is very popular in USA and in Japan.My first impression about baseball was also coming from Japan. The TV series of H2 told a heart-burning story about high school students playing baseball.
the baseball is played between two teams, the visitor team and the home team. Usually visitor teams plays as offensive and home teams plays as defensive in top part and trade positions in bottom part in a inning. a matches generally has 9 innings and maybe the 10th innings will be needed if a tire comes out. like many other sports item, baseball is also scoring competition.
there are 9 players in one team.
In this picture, 4 players are offensive team, the batter, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman. But first baseman, second baseman, third baseman are not in their position at the beginning of match. The pitcher, catcher, right fielder, center fielder, left fielder are defensive team.
The umpire will judge weather the batter swings and it is the ball or the strike.
When the pitch throws the ball, the batter needs to judge weather he will swing or not. If he swings, and he misses the ball, it is strike. If he does not swing, there are two results. Baseball not pass the "strike zone", it is called the ball. Baseball passes through the strike zone or touch the strike zone, it is called the strike. The umpire crouches behind the catcher will tell it is a ball or a strike. When the batter gets three strike, he is out. It is calling strike out.
To make a conclusion, three situation can be called the strike. 1. not swing and the baseball pass through the strike zone. 2. swing and miss the baseball 3. hit the ball foul.
there are three situations that at-bats ends. 1. three strikes is "strikeout". The batter is out. 2.Walk. Four balls on a strike, meaning the batter is directly to the first base. 3. Batter hits the ball
what if the batter swings and hit the ball in the fair territory zone? then comes the most exciting part of the game. the batter need to run to the first base before the defensive team get the ball. if he is successful, he is safe. It is called the hit. another batter is needed. If not, the batter is out. A base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches the first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice. Hit including single, double, triple and the home run. Home run means the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in process. the batter scores and it is "run".
all states above are the main trunk of baseball rules. When playing baseball, there are many techniques and strategies. Usually the pitches decides all the defensive in a match while the batter is the main force of offensive.