the national pastime

[rone]

The vast majority of sports are, at their core, the same: you or your team want to score, and to deny your opponents in their own pursuit of a score.  The way to do that is to get possession of the ball.

Baseball (yes, and cricket) is different.  When your team "possesses" the ball, it's actually delivered by your opponents, and your job is to put the ball out of their reach while you try to score.  In baseball, you don't want the ball anywhere near you when you score.

There is no clock that ticks away; no time can be burnt or wasted in an effort to deny your opponent a chance to score again.  Each team has the same number of chances to score in the game, no matter what (yes, the home team foregoes its final 3 or fewer chances if it's ahead).

Another difference in baseball is that the teams don't face each other at full strength.  It's always the batter versus nine fielders, modulo any baserunners, whose impact is minimal (unless they're exceptional base-stealers).  In geekspeak, the game is asynchronous.

One thing i've read about baseball that i like a lot is, "You have to let the game come to you."  Patience is rewarded in baseball more than in any other sport.

Comments

[joepro.livejournal.com]

Another strange thing about baseball, as pointed out by George Carlin, is the fact the coaches and managers wear a uniform like the players. If that's not weird enough, the manager can come onto the field of play and get right up into the umpire's face and argue a moot point. Regardless, I love baseball, it has so many nuances that make it unique, and any team can beat another on any given day.