Idiot's Guide to Baseball

[scottm]

What, & why so named, are the Cactus League & Grapefruit League?

 The Cactus League and Grapefruit League are basically where teams carry out their pre season or Spring Training as they call it. They are named after plants found in the areas that the leagues are held. Cactus League based in Arizona, Grapefruit League in Florida.

This year there is an even split between the two with 15 teams in each league but both leagues have mixture of American and National league teams. Most teams have their own complex that they will use for Spring Training but a couple of teams share facilities. My team, the Seattle Mariners (American League ) share their complex with the San Diego Padres ( National League)

Teams can start with upwards of 80 - 90 players invited to the start of Spring Training but will eventually whittle it down the 25 players that they allowed on the playing roster come opening day of the season.

Thanks Scott.

So the Squad is 25. How many in the Team? How many on the bench?

Tighty pretty much covered it all 

Only detail to add is that although the active roster is 25, clubs actually have a 40 man roster.  The 40 man roster includes all players that have a major-league contract who can be called into the 25 man active roster at any time. If they aren't on the 25 man roster for the major-league they would be playing for the clubs minor-league or  AAA team

Players with minor injuries are also included on the 40 man roster in the form of the 15 day "disabled list" or D/L as its known. Any player with a longer term injury can be put on the 60 day D/L but players on this list are not included in the 40 man roster so no team will be disadvantaged by having players unavailable through injury.

On the 1st September each season the 25 man active squad expands to the full 40 man roster. Any player on the 40 man can now play for the team in the run to the post-season.

 

[tikay]

In the Results of a Baseball Game, there are 3 headings....

R   H   E

R = Runs.

What are the other two, & their relevance to a result?

[tikay]

If one Team is losing by (say) 3 after the Eighth Innings, then Bats first in the Ninth & fails to score, do the other Team still bat, or is that it, game over?

[TightEnd]

In the Results of a Baseball Game, there are 3 headings....

R   H   E

R = Runs.

What are the other two, & their relevance to a result?

On a baseball scoreboard, it's Runs, Hits, Errors, and Left on Base

The usual abbreviation for Left On Base is LOB but they shorten it on scoreboards.

[TightEnd]

If one Team is losing by (say) 3 after the Eighth Innings, then Bats first in the Ninth & fails to score, do the other Team still bat, or is that it, game over?

team batting second gets the usual three outs to at least tie the gamer in the 9th and take it to extra innings or win

this is where the closer, the winning team's ace pitcher in the bullpenl earns his money..needs to get three outs to win the game

[DMorgan]

I think Tony means if the away team is behind at the end of the eighth and fail to score at the top of the ninth, do they still play the bottom of the ninth or do they pack up their troubles?

[TightEnd]

They end there and then

[tikay]

I think Tony means if the away team is behind at the end of the eighth and fail to score at the top of the ninth, do they still play the bottom of the ninth or do they pack up their troubles?

Thanks Dan, that was what I meant.

Have watched a lot of Baseball whilst in the States over the years, love it even though I have never understood the nuances. Tremendous theatre.

ThanksTighty, too.

[mulhuzz]

Baseball is just excellent fun. Like cricket on large, statistics driven American steroids.

I'm a redsox fan and pretty sure I was responsible for ending the babe ruth curse in 2004.

[WPIL]

Game 6's

1975
1986
2011

Did not see the first one
Second was one of the most dramatic sporting finishers ever, was not really into Baseball until I saw that game, the Mets were amazing that year and a team full of characters
Hadn't watched a game for a while and got lucky watching that one

[Boba Fett]

Im gonna be one of those annoying guys that answers questions from the 1st page without checking if they have been answered yet

What do the following mean?

RBI - Run Batted In, is the baseball equivalent of an assist.  If a batter gets a hit and it leads to a player already on base scoring a run they would get an RBI.  Players can also get RBI's when they dont get hits too, like if they put the ball in play and its caught, but it gives someone on base time to steal home plate and score a run, the batter doesnt get a hit (because he is out) but he gets the RBI.

OBP - On Base Percentage, what it looks like really, how often a batter can get on base.  This includes hits, walks, being hit by a pitch and any other way of getting on base without actually getting a hit

Hits - A batter hitting a pitch and getting on base legally (ball has to bounce in bounds for it to be legal, batter also has to make it to the base before the ball)

ERA - Earned Run Average, a stat for pitchers that shows how many runs they allow that they are responsible for.  They are not responsible for runs scored by a player who advances a base due to an outfield error, this is an unearned run, or players on base inherited from previous pitchers

Strikeouts - When a pitcher throws 3 strikes to a single batter, he has struck that batter out

Saves - Its a pitcher stat for pitchers that come into the game later.  It scores how many times they come into the game while their team holds a slight lead and finishes up the game by eliminating the last few batters.  To get a save, the pitcher must have finished the game for the winning team, not have been awarded the win and either has to pitch at least an inning while they have a maximum 3 run lead or he comes into the game when the potential tying run is either batting or already on base or just pitches for the last 3 full innings.

Holds - Its pretty much a save but the pitcher doesnt finish the game.

What are Batting & Pitching splits? - not sure

[Boba Fett]

In the Results of a Baseball Game, there are 3 headings....

R   H   E

R = Runs.

What are the other two, & their relevance to a result?

H=hits
E=Errors

It doesnt change the result at all but it does tell a basic story of the game like how many hits it took for a team to score a run and how many errors a team committed during a game (which will mostly lead to runs)

[tikay]

Thanks Boba.

Have never understood all those abbreviations and stats, but I am all revved up now, and have even upgraded to ESPN.

First live game is late Sunday night (1am Monday) then there are 4 televised live games on Monday. Be like being in Vegas.

Do you have a Team you follow?

[Boba Fett]

Thanks Boba.

Have never understood all those abbreviations and stats, but I am all revved up now, and have even upgraded to ESPN.

First live game is late Sunday night (1am Monday) then there are 4 televised live games on Monday. Be like being in Vegas.

Do you have a Team you follow?

I watched every game when Channel 5 1st started up and had Baseball but the last couple of years I havent even watched the World Series.  My favourite teams when I got into it were the Atlanta Braves, partly because they were really good but also theyre main strength was that they had the best starting pitchers in the league, and none of them were big power pitchers they were all finesse pitchers which meant they just broke teams down by not letting them gets hits or get on base or score.  I also liked the indians because I loved the film major league 

All the stats are a dream for the numbers geeks as there are loads of formula being churned out combining stats to try to show things that couldn't previously be quantified by an individual stat and its changing the way people look at players/teams/the game overall

[tikay]

Thanks Boba.

Have never understood all those abbreviations and stats, but I am all revved up now, and have even upgraded to ESPN.

First live game is late Sunday night (1am Monday) then there are 4 televised live games on Monday. Be like being in Vegas.

Do you have a Team you follow?

I watched every game when Channel 5 1st started up and had Baseball but the last couple of years I havent even watched the World Series.  My favourite teams when I got into it were the Atlanta Braves, partly because they were really good but also theyre main strength was that they had the best starting pitchers in the league, and none of them were big power pitchers they were all finesse pitchers which meant they just broke teams down by not letting them gets hits or get on base or score.  I also liked the indians because I loved the film major league 

All the stats are a dream for the numbers geeks as there are loads of formula being churned out combining stats to try to show things that couldn't previously be quantified by an individual stat and its changing the way people look at players/teams/the game overall

I worked with Johnny Gould for several years, at both Willliam Hill TV & Sky Poker, & he was Baseball nuts, his life revolved around his Fantasy Baseball Teams, he usually had 6 or 7 on the go.

He was mortified when the Baseball Show got pulled, which was an odd decision, because it cost very little, they just took a feed from the USA & did punditry in the breaks.

He then started doing Charity Auctions, he was (so he told me) very good at being the Auctioneer, & could cajole "whales" into paying huge sums for items in the Auction. He was being paid a fortune per gig for that, couple of grand per night, but he had a messy divorce which probably soaked up most of it. Fun guy, bundles of enthusiasm, & a joy to work with, & he was very kind & helpful to me.

Think he did an NFL Show, too.