Batting team (baseball) in the context of "Baseball"

⭐ In the context of Baseball, what is the primary initial objective for a player on the batting team after stepping up to the plate?

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⭐ Core Definition: Batting team (baseball)

Throughout the history of baseball, the rules of the game have changed frequently as the game continues to evolve. A few typical rules that most professional leagues have in common are that four balls are a base on balls, three strikes are a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.

Baseball evolved out of bat-and-ball games in the mid-19th century, and its modern rules are based mainly on those first published in 1848. Most rule sets are generally based on the Official Baseball Rules (OBR) published by Major League Baseball (MLB), though various minor variations exist from league to league; the World Baseball Softball Confederation maintains its own official rule set for international competition.

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👉 Batting team (baseball) in the context of Baseball

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.

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