These days, Italy is planting its flag on the world baseball map. During the World Baseball Classic (the World Cup for this sport), the national team performed a miracle: first it beat the United States 8-6, where baseball is a religion, and then it defeated Mexico 9-1, reaching the quarter-finals with first place in the group. Now they will face Puerto Rico. The team, coached by the Italian-Venezuelan Francisco Cervelli, is driven by the paisaItalian-Americans of local origins such as Vinnie Pasquantino and the pitcher Aaron Nola, who play among the professionals of the MLB (Major League Baseball).
It is a historic result for a country like ours, where baseball is still a niche yet to be discovered, with innings, pitches at over 150 km/h, hitters and the famous home runs. Suffice it to say that, throughout Italy, the movement managed by FIBS (Italian Baseball Softball Federation) has just under 15,000 registered athletes (CONI 2023 data).
The numbers of baseball in Italy and the success in the national team
Italy made history: by beating the United States and Mexico, it returned, for the second time ever, to the quarterfinals of the baseball world championship. A crazy achievement, especially if we think about the real numbers of this sport in our country: according to CONI 2023 data, FIBS members were 14,909. This result adds to thesilver won last year at the European Championshipswhere the Azzurri only surrendered in the final against the Netherlands.
Yet, the blue miracle at the World Baseball Classic speaks largely American. The success of the team is in fact driven by the Italian-Americans, born and raised in the USA, who play in the most important league in the world, the MLB. Among them are the pitcher Aaron Nola (of the Philadelphia Phillies), the veteran Michael Lorenzen (of the Colorado Rockies), the hitters Vinnie Pasquantino (playing for the Kansas City Royals) and Miles Mastrobuoni (Seattle Mariners) and the first athlete to grow up in Italy and arrive in MLB with the Los Angeles Angels Sam Aldegheri. With them there are also some protagonists of the Italian Serie A such as the young pitcher Gabriele Quattrini (of Hotsand Macerata) and the very expert Alberto Mineoreceiver, and cornerstone of Parma Clima.
Despite the soul divided halfway between Italy and the States, in this group the sense of belonging is very strong. A connection with their roots that the players show with the coffee machine always running on the bench, the way of celebrating by gesturing with their hands and the classic kisses on the cheeks between teammates.
How baseball works: runs and outs
Baseball is a team sport played on a diamond-shaped field. The players’ objective is to score points (run) completing the tour of the four bases present at the corners of the diamond.
The attacking team has the hitter (hitters) – the one with the bat so to speak. His goal is to hit the ball thrown by the pitcher (pitcher) of the opposing team. If he succeeds, he must run touching 1st, 2nd and 3rd base in sequence, and then return to the starting base (Home Base or Home Plate). If he completes this complete turn without being eliminated, he scores 1 point (Run). If the ball is hit out of bounds with the famous home run or Home Runthe batter and all his teammates who were already on the bases make a complete turn and score one point each.
The defending team, made up of 9 players spread across the field, must prevent their opponents from scoring points. To do this, he must eliminate 3 attackers. The 4 main ways to eliminate a player are:
- Strikeouts: it is the direct duel between pitcher and batter. If the pitcher throws the ball 3 times into the valid area (the strike zone) and the batter fails to hit it (or hits it outside the lines), the attacker is out.
- Fly out: The batsman hits the ball with the bat, but a fielder catches it on the fly before it hits the ground. The batter is out.
- Force out: The batter hits the ball, which bounces to the ground. The batter releases the bat and runs towards 1st base. A fielder picks up the ball and throws it to his teammate who is on 1st base. If the ball reaches the base before the runner, the runner is out.
- Tag out: while an attacker is running between one base and another, a defender who has the ball in his hand (or in his glove) physically touches him. Since the runner is outside the “safe haven” (the base), he is eliminated.
How long does a baseball game last
A regulation match takes place with 9 players inning (filming) without a fixed time as in football or basketball and therefore of variable duration. Each inning is in turn divided into two halves, first the away team goes on attack, while the home team is on the field to defend, then the roles are reversed with the home team going on attack and the guest on defense.
A team’s offensive turn ends only when the defense manages to make 3 eliminations (Out). When both teams have attacked and have suffered 3 outs each, the inning is over and we move on to the next. If at the end of 9 innings the teams are tied, extra innings are played (Extra Innings) until one of the two ends an inning ahead.
In 2025, in the MLB – the American professional league, games with 9 innings lasted an average of 2 hours and 38 minutes. A time that has significantly decreased since the introduction of pitch clock in 2023, a clock to avoid wasting time by pitchers who have 15 seconds to throw if the bases are empty.
Consider that the longest game in history was played in 1981 and lasted 33 innings with more than eight hours of play in two days between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox.
