SPORTS

Baseball

Baseball has two teams with nine players each. The objective is to add up more runs than the opposite team at the end of a 9-round series, or as it is popularly known within the sport as "innings".

Teams take turns between offense (Batting) and defense (pitching and catching), and they switch sides when the DEFENSE team eliminates three batters or runners from the opposite team. The pitcher is in charge of throwing the ball from a center mound towards the batter, who tries to hit the ball with the bat as far as possible, and thus being able to run between the 3 bases of the field until reaching HOME, scoring a run. The current world ranking from the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) shows us that 10 countries from our continent are placed among the TOP 20 So let's get ready to see the best teams in the world competing for the gold medal at Santiago 2023.

In the picture there is a front shot of a male baseball player that is positioned to bat the ball.

History of this sport

Baseball is a very popular sport in Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, the United States, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

Baseball was an exhibition sport in several editions of the Games before being admitted as a medal competition sport in Barcelona 1992. It was played until Beijing 2008 and then was eliminated from the program.

Given the popularity of baseball in Japan, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee decided that men's baseball and women's softball competitions would be added.

The men's baseball tournament at the Pan American Games has been played since its first edition in Buenos Aires in 1951. The women's competition debuted at Toronto 2015, marking the first time a women's baseball competition was held at a multi-sport event.

Cuba leads the podium with 12 gold medals.

In the picture there is a front shot of a male baseball player that is positioned to bat the ball.

How do you compete?

The Baseball field of play is divided in two large areas: Infield and Outfield.

On the Infield you can find the defensive players, one per base if possible (first, second, third) and in the Home is the CATCHER.

Apart from the players on the bases, there is one that due to its spectacular moves is one of the most important players, which is the Short Stop and the Pitcher, located on a center mound, throws the ball to the batter.

These are the first 6 players of a team, the other 3 of the total nine on the field are located on the OUTFIELD, the farthest positions of the field and they are named Center Fielder, Left Fielder and Right Fielder. These 9 players are called the DEFENSE team.

In a Baseball match, each team acts in DEFENSE and OFFENSE in nine innings, the latter OFFENSE player is the Batter, who faces the 9 opponents.

When the batter runs through all the bases, and comes back to home, a run is scored.

The team with the most runs wins.

Quiz

What does fildear mean?

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