Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking
turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play
generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a
player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat.
The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away
from the other team’s players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance
counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called “runs”. The objective of the defensive
team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent
runners’ advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases
in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). (資料來源)
The principal objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base
safely; this generally occurs either when the batter hits the ball and reaches first base before an
opponent retrieves the ball and touches the base, or when the pitcher persists in throwing the ball
out of the batter’s reach. Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called
“out” can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during
teammates’ turns batting.
The fielding team tries to prevent runs by getting batters or runners “out”, which forces them out
of the field of play. The pitcher can get the batter out by throwing three pitches which result in
strikes, while fielders can get the batter out by catching a batted ball before it touches the
ground, and can get a runner out by tagging them with the ball while the runner is not touching a
base. (資料來源 )