Baseball Rules and Tips

Baseball Clash brings baseball to a pocket-sized experience for everyone.

Whether you are a seasoned fan of the game or just getting into what our friends in the United States call “The National Pastime”, it is always good to freshen up your knowledge and lingo.

If you want to jump in to Baseball Clash, we recommend reading up on our How To Start guide, if not...

Let’s start with the basics:

What’s the name of a baseball field?

Well, “baseball field” is a name we all understand. Other names would be “ball field”, “sandlot” and “baseball diamond”, due to its – you guessed it – diamond shape.

What makes up a baseball field?

On a baseball field you will find the bases, the baselines, the batter’s box, the catcher’s box and the pitcher’s mound.

• Bases

  There are four bases: First, second and third base, and the home base or plate. Players playing batting start running from the home base and must go through each base and back. Easier said than done.

• Baselines
  Baselines are understood as the imaginary straight line between each adjacent base. They are not visible, although two of them overlap with the two foul lines. These two should not be crossed by the ball at the risk of a foul ball.

• Batter’s and Catcher’s box:

  These are the box-shaped lines where the batter waits for the pitch.  Behind the batter, it’s where the catcher crouches in their smaller box.

• Pitcher’s mound:

  Roughly located in the middle of the diamond there is a mound. That’s where the pitcher pitches, hence, pitcher’s mound.

What are Baseball positions called?

There are many positions in baseball and specific roles that certain players can sometimes take. We won’t go through all of them because in Baseball Clash there are just four, represented by their letters, you need to worry about.

• Pitcher (P)
  It’s the player in the pitcher’s mound.  Their role is to throw the ball towards the catcher and thus starting the play. Hopefully, they’ll be able to retire the batter and remove the opponent’s chance to score a point

• Catcher (C)
  The Catcher is the player behind the batter in charge of catching the ball within the strike zone. In a regular game of baseball, it’s their job to communicate to the pitcher how best to throw the ball according to the batter’s weakness and other players on the field.

• In-field (IF)
  These players can be also referred by the base where they are closest to. A notable exception would be the Short-Stop. But you do not need to be weary of this in Baseball Clash. Simply put, any in-field players play closer to the diamond. Their job is to stop players from the opposing team from reaching a base.

• Out-field (out-field)
  The players furthest from the diamond. Their job is to catch the ball as quickly as possibly and pass it to the in-field players.

“Wait, isn’t batter a position?”

Not really, it’s more of a role that every player can take when they are on offence. When in this role, the objective of this player is to hit the ball and hit the ground running until they can get to the home base again.

Now that we are done with player positioning, let’s address some rules that can be useful.

How to score points?

The batting team scores by having player running around the diamond starting and returning to the home base. Each player counts as a point.

Who can catch the ball?

Everyone except the batting team. Including the pitcher (that’s why he has a glove). Once the ball is caught it can be passed around as many times as necessary. If a ball is caught without hitting the floor all players that are not physically on base are eliminated.

On that note,

How are players eliminated?

Players can be eliminated when a ball reaches the base they are running towards before they do.

Are players required to run to the next base?

Generally, no. Players might choose to stay put or even turn back if they believe they would be eliminated otherwise. However, two players cannot be occupying the same base and since the batting player always has to run if a player is in the first base he will usually need to run along with any player in an adjacent base. When two players occupy the same base the lead runner – the player that was first on that base as opposed to the batter-runner – is entitled to the base.

How can players be retired?

The player in charge of retiring a batter is the pitcher. Usually, a player will be retired when the pitcher manages three strikes. Additionally, although a batter can commit unlimited number of fouls – batting the ball to the sides and past the foul lanes –, if they bunt a foul after having two strikes, they will be eliminated.

What is a baseball walk?

When pitching, the pitcher must make sure the ball is within the strike zone. In Baseball Clash this is represented by a square surrounding the catcher’s glove. If a ball is thrown outside of that zone, the play is called “Ball”. Pitchers can have up to three “Balls”. On the fourth the batter gets to walk to the first base. This is called a “baseball walk” or a “base on balls” If there are more players on bases, they each get to walk to next adjacent base.

Interestingly, fielding teams may want to do this on purpose. For instance, if a pitcher is up against a very good batter and fears that they might score a home run it is better to concede a baseball walk and hope to eliminate him later.

We’ve covered some basic rules, now let’s write down some useful lingo:

Homerun

Homeruns are very thrilling in baseball and they happen when a player manages to run the entirety of the baseball field. They are not worth extra points but are cool to see.

Grand Slam

This is the best type of homerun. When three players are already on all bases and the batter manages a home run it is called a Grand Slam, meaning that all of the players manage to score giving the batting team a total of four points.

In-field Home Run

This is a very tricky home run to achieve. Usually, homeruns are guaranteed when the ball goes out of bounds and players can run freely. But if a player is fast enough there is no reason as to why he should not go for a homerun even if the ball is in play. It is risky but it can pay off. So, believe in your Baseball Clash players and tap the next base and hope they can make the sprint before the fielding team ball gets the ball to the home base.

Double & Triple Play

These are tricky to do but awesome to pull off in Baseball Clash. When the batter is able to hit the ball, it is possible for the fielding team to eliminate (tag) multiple runners before they reach the next base. When you eliminate two or more players its called a double and a triple play.

Base stealing

This is a high-risk play. When the opponents’ pitcher is still preparing to toss the ball, you can tell one of your runners to run to the next base without the pitcher noticing.

Liner

You may have come across this expression while looking at Gibson's effect, "Power Liner". A liner, or a line-drive, is a batted ball that describes an almost straight line.

Tagging Up

When a batted ball is caught without hitting the ground (fly ball), runners (players already on bases), must return to the base they were starting from. This is called tagging up. Afterwards, they can still run to the next base. It is a risky move, but if the fly ball was caught deep in the out-field it might be worth, especially if the player is Alexander who increases his speed when he tags up.

We hope this article will help you out on the diamond. If you want to learn a bit more about the different types of baseball pitches follow this link to understand how different throws can be leveraged.