How many players are on a baseball team?
A baseball team has 9 players on the field when it is fielding. Major League Baseball teams have a 26-player active roster.
The nine fielding positions are pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder and right fielder. When a team is batting, its nine players take turns in a set batting order.
Major League Baseball teams carry 26 active players, with no more than 13 pitchers. Roster sizes grow to 28 in September in some seasons' rules. Many players spend time in the minor leagues before reaching the majors.
The designated hitter
Since 2022, both MLB leagues use the designated hitter, a player who bats instead of the pitcher but does not play in the field. This means ten different players can appear in a team's starting lineup.
Baseball games have nine innings, and each team gets three outs per inning when batting. If the score is tied after nine innings, extra innings are played until one team leads at the end of an inning.
Did You Know?
A baseball diamond's bases are 90 feet apart, and the pitcher throws from 60 feet 6 inches away, distances that have been standard since the 1890s.