Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine, who take turns batting and fielding across nine innings. One side bats while the other fields, and the roles switch once the fielding side records three outs.
Objective
The aim is to score more runs than the opposition. A run is scored by hitting the ball into play and then running around all four bases, in order, before being put out.
Rules and regulations
- The World Baseball Softball Confederation, formed in 2013 through the merger of the sport’s two previous world bodies, is the recognised international governing body for baseball.
- A standard game runs nine innings, though shorter formats are used at youth and exhibition level.
- A batter is out after three strikes, whether from swinging and missing or from pitches called strikes inside the strike zone, or if a fielder catches a batted ball before it touches the ground.
- Four pitches outside the strike zone that the batter does not swing at result in a walk to first base.
- The fielding side can also record outs by tagging a runner or forcing them out at a base.
- In a move to speed up play, the WBSC has introduced a pitch clock at major international events, a change that will also feature at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Equipment and playing area
- The infield is laid out as a diamond, with bases set 90 feet (about 27.4 metres) apart and the pitcher throwing from a mound 60 feet 6 inches (18.44 metres) from home plate.
- The outfield stretches out behind the infield, bordered by a fence typically 90 to 120 metres from home plate depending on the ground.
- Bats are made of wood at professional and international level, though aluminium bats are common in amateur and youth leagues.
- The ball is a small, hard sphere with a stitched leather cover, and fielders wear leather gloves, with the catcher and batter also wearing protective equipment.
Scoring
- A run is added to the scoreboard every time a batter or runner safely completes the circuit of all four bases and touches home plate.
- The team with more runs after nine innings wins, and if the scores are level the game continues into extra innings, where WBSC rules place a runner on second base at the start of each extra frame to help produce a faster result.
- In India, the sport is overseen by the Amateur Baseball Federation of India, and national teams have taken part in Asian-level competition, though baseball remains a minor sport domestically.
