Baseball is a bat -and- ball game played between two opposing teams who take turns batting and fielding. The game proceeds when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball which a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat. The objectives of the offensive team (batting team ) are to hit the ball into the field of play, and to run the bases - having its runners advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (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). The team who scores the most runs by the end of the game is the winner.
The first objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely. A player on the batting team who reaches first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases (2nd, 3rd and home) as a runner, 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 (usually temporarily). Both the pitcher and fielders have methods of getting the batting team 's players out.
