How to fill in a baseball scoresheet

Before the game: the lineup

Each team has its own sheet, or its own half of one. Before the first pitch, write the lineup in batting order: each starter’s name, uniform number and defensive position. Leave room under each name for substitutes who enter in the same spot in the order.

Also note the date, the teams, which is home and which is visiting, the field and the starting pitchers. The visitors bat in the top of each inning and the home team in the bottom.

Positions by number

To score quickly, each defensive position has a number: 1 pitcher, 2 catcher, 3 first base, 4 second base, 5 third base, 6 shortstop, 7 left field, 8 center field and 9 right field. Ten-player softball adds 10 for the extra outfielder.

So a ground ball to the shortstop thrown to first for the out is written 6-3: the shortstop (6) threw to the first baseman (3). A fly ball caught by the center fielder is F8, and a line drive caught by the third baseman is L5.

The symbol for each play

Each box on the sheet is one plate appearance by one hitter in one inning. Hits are marked 1B, 2B, 3B and HR, and the runner’s path is drawn around the small diamond in the box.

Walks are BB, hit-by-pitch is HP or HBP and a strikeout is K; many scorers use a backwards K for a called third strike. An error is E plus the number of the fielder who made it, such as E6. A fielder’s choice is FC, a sacrifice bunt SAC or SH and a sacrifice fly SF.

For outs, write the number of the out in that inning, 1, 2 or 3, in a circle. At the end of the inning you can see at a glance that there were exactly three.

Runs, RBIs and runners

When a runner comes all the way around and scores, fill in the diamond in his box. The hitter who drove him in with a hit, a bases-loaded walk, a sacrifice fly or a productive out gets the run batted in. No RBI is credited when the run scores on an error or when the hitter grounds into a double play.

Runners stranded when the third out is made are left on base. At the end of each inning, write the inning’s runs, hits, errors and runners left on base at the foot of the column.

Substitutions and pitching changes

When a pinch hitter, a pinch runner or a defensive substitute enters, write him in the batting-order spot he takes over and draw a heavy line at the inning he came in. The substitute inherits that spot in the order.

Keep a line for each pitcher: innings pitched, hits, runs, earned runs, walks and strikeouts. Innings are counted in outs: 5.2 is five innings and two outs. If a pitcher leaves with runners on base and they later score, those runs are charged to him, not to the reliever.

How to check that the sheet adds up

A correctly filled sheet obeys identities you can check. The runs by inning add up to the runs scored by the hitters. One team’s hits are the hits allowed by the other team’s pitchers. And the outs the defense recorded are three for every inning the opponent batted.

The classic box-score proof says a team’s plate appearances, that is at-bats plus walks, hit-by-pitches, sacrifices and interference, equal its runs plus its runners left on base plus the putouts made by the opposing defense. If it does not balance, a play was scored wrong.

Taking it digital

On RosterMetrix each manager loads their team’s sheet after the game: the runs by inning and the batting, pitching and fielding lines. The app runs these checks itself, warns when something does not add up, and the commissioner approves the game. On approval, the line score, standings, leaders and every player’s page update at once.