Base (baseball) in the context of "San Diego Padres"

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 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 advancing 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).

The initial objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely; this 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 using the ball to get 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.

In baseball, a baserunner is safe when he reaches a base without being put out by various ways. While a runner is touching a base, he is usually not in jeopardy of being put out, and is thus "safe" from fielders' actions, such as tags. The runner is in jeopardy once again, negating this safety, when:

• he ceases touching the base
• he is forced to reach another base on a force play or when tagging up
• a runner further along the basepath legally returns to the base that he is touching (two runners on the same base)
• he commits interference.

By the rules, a runner is safe when he is entitled to the base he is trying for. Umpires will signal that a runner is safe by extending their elbows to their sides and then extending their arms fully to the side. For emphasis, an umpire may fully cross and extend his arms several times to indicate safe. Verbally, the umpire will usually simply say "safe". If a close play occurs that may have appeared to be a putout, the umpire will also call a reason for the safe call, such as "he dropped the ball" or "he missed the tag".

In baseball, the rules state that a batted ball is considered in flight when it has not yet touched any object other than a fielder or his equipment. Such a ball can be caught by a fielder to put the batter out.

Once a batted ball touches the ground, a fence or wall, a foul pole, a base, the pitcher's rubber, an umpire, or a baserunner, it is no longer in flight. A batted ball that passes entirely out of the playing field ceases to be in flight when that occurs; if it was between the foul poles at that moment, then it is a home run which entitles the batter (and any other runners on base) to score.

In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out at the next base, but the official scorer rules on the question of credit or blame for the advance under Rule 10 (Rules of Scoring) of the MLB's Official Rules.

A stolen base most often occurs when a base runner advances to the next base while the pitcher is pitching the ball to home plate.