Baseball — Today's matches

How a baseball game unfolds

Baseball is the one major sport with no clock. A game is nine innings, and each inning has two halves: the visiting team bats in the “top” half, the home team in the “bottom” half. Three outs end a half-inning, and the side that scores the most runs wins. If the game is tied after nine, it simply continues into extra innings until one side finishes an inning ahead — which is why a label like “TOP 7” above means the visitors are batting in the seventh, and why a “walk-off” (the home team scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth or later) ends the game the instant the run crosses the plate.

How to read the line score

The row of numbers under each game is the line score: runs per inning, followed by three totals — R (runs), H (hits) and E (errors). Read left to right, it tells the story of the night. A team that scores five in one inning probably strung together a rally or hit one big home run; a string of zeros with a late “1” is a pitchers’ duel decided at the end.

The handful of stats that actually matter

For hitters, start with AVG (how often a batter gets a hit), OBP (how often he reaches base by any means) and SLG (how much power is behind those hits). RBI counts runs a batter drives in, and the home-run leaderboard at the top of this page shows who is supplying the power. For pitchers, ERA measures earned runs allowed per nine innings, K counts strikeouts, and a save is awarded to a relief pitcher who protects a small lead to the finish. The “W” and “L” next to pitchers’ names simply record who was pitching when the decisive run scored.

Making sense of the standings

MLB teams are grouped in six divisions across the American and National Leagues, and the table is ordered by win percentage — wins divided by games played — because rain postponements mean teams are rarely level on games. GB (games behind) shows how far a team trails the leader, and L10 is its record over the last ten games, the quickest form check in the sport. Across a 162-game season, a two-game swing is nothing; in September, it can decide a playoff place.

More than one league, more than one season

The widget above follows that same rhythm worldwide: Japan’s NPB and Korea’s KBO run spring-to-autumn seasons with their own passionate pennant races, Mexico’s LMB plays through the summer, and every few years the World Baseball Classic brings national teams — and a very different atmosphere — to the same diamonds. When MLB pauses for the winter, the baseball news and features keep rolling, the wider news section covers the rest of the sporting day, and the sluggers and aces behind the numbers are all listed in our players directory.

Baseball questions, answered

Why are there no drawn games in baseball?

The rules simply keep playing. Tied games go to extra innings until one team leads at the end of a completed inning, however long that takes.

What does “bottom of the ninth” mean?

The home team’s last regular batting half-inning. If the home side is already ahead after the top half, the bottom is not played at all — there is nothing left to decide.

How long does a baseball game last?

Most modern games finish in roughly two and a half to three hours, though extra-inning games and high-scoring nights run longer.

What is the difference between the American and National Leagues?

They are MLB’s two halves, each with East, Central and West divisions. They now play under essentially the same rules — including the designated hitter in both — and meet in interleague play all season before the World Series.