Baseball is the only game in the world where the offense never touches the ball and the defense always has the ball.
“Baseball is the only sport I know that when you are offense, the other teams controls the ball.” Ken Harrelson, Sports Illustrated, September 1976.
Watch a football game and the key is to hold the ball and not give it back to the other team.
Watch a basketball game and the key is to pass the ball to other offensive players and put the ball into the net.
Watch a soccer game and you will see numerous offensive passes just trying to keep the ball off the defender’s feet.
But baseball is different. The defense always has the ball. The offense can never touches the ball unless they are unintentionally hit by a pitched ball.
Offensive players are not allowed to try and touch the ball, if they do then they are out. Defensive players need to keep the ball until a third out occurs.
It just seems ironic and maybe that is the beauty of baseball. Irony rules this game where what you expect is often different than what you get.
If the offense is doing their job then they won’t get to touch the ball for ten minutes. If the defense is doing their job then they give the ball back to the offensive team.
It almost seems that it should be opposite but it isn’t. Baseball has always had its own rules and these rules have rarely changed. They don’t need to change because they are perfectly opposite.
Until Next time,