Baseball is a game in which there are batting and pitching. Two teams can play this game. It is a field game that is played with bats and a ball between two teams.
It is very popular especially in the US where it is considered the national game. Countries like Japan and South Korea also play this game.
In India, though mostly played at school and college level, baseball is slowly gaining popularity. Dinesh Patel and Rinku Ghosh are the two Indian baseball players, both of them play for an American Baseball team.
In this sport, the player should hit the ball that throws the pitcher and then to run the field in the clockwise, i.e., to run through the four bases that are marked on the field. The goal of baseball is to prevent a player from the rival team from reaching the base, i.e., hitting the ball.
It is believed that baseball comes from England. This sport, which was then called rounders, was trendy among children. The oldest reference to this sport is from the mid-18th century.
Baseball today
Baseball is a sport that is very popular in America and Canada. Nowadays, there are two leagues – the national and American league. These leagues are divided into three divisions – central, west and east. This sport was developed in other countries such as Japan and Latin America. The biggest international competition in this sport is called The World Baseball Classic.
How the game is played
The two teams each have nine players. One team take the offensive, that is the batting and running, while the other team takes the defensive position that is pitching- throwing the ball and defending.
The pitch is in the shape of a diamond with four ‘bases’ – first, second, third and fourth base. Four players from the offensive team are present on the pitch at one base each. The player in the batting position hits the pitched ball and runs to the second base while the players at the other bases also move to the next base in an anti-clockwise direction to make runs.
The other team tries to get the players out. Once three of the offensive players get ‘out’ the other team comes in to bat.
A match has nine innings, each of which is one turn of batting and one with the ball for each team.
The objective of the game
The team that makes more runs at the end of the nine innings is the winner. The aim of the offensive team to make as many runs as possible without getting out. The defensive team tries to get as many players from the offensive as possible while defending the pitch.
Conclusion
Baseball is a fast-paced game that is gaining popularity besides the US and the South Asian Countries where it is also popular.
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