outs

Outs are plays that retire a batter or baserunner, recording an out for the defense and temporarily ending the offense’s opportunity to bat. In baseball and softball, the concept is central to the game's structure. Each half-inning ends when the defense records three outs, and innings alternate between teams until a predefined total (nine innings in most professional games) is reached, with extras if the score is tied.

Outs occur in several ways. Common examples include strikeouts, flyouts (catching a batted ball before it touches the ground), groundouts (fielded ball thrown to first base before the runner reaches it), force outs (a runner on a base is forced to advance and is put out when the fielder with the ball reaches the base first), and tag outs (a fielder tags a runner not on a base). Double plays, where two outs are recorded in a single continuous play, are particularly impactful. A putout is the statistic awarded to the fielder who records the out, while assists may be credited to other fielders involved in the play.

Outs are tracked throughout the game on the scoreboard and in box scores, and the number of outs in the current half-inning is a key variable in strategy and pacing. The term is most closely associated with baseball and softball; in cricket, the analogous concept is a dismissal, and the term “out” is not used in the same statistical sense.