How to Score Baseball#

The complete guide to keeping score at a baseball game — whether you’re using a pencil and a paper scorecard, or the BaseballScorer app on your iPad.

What You’ll Find Here#

This site covers everything from the basics of baseball scoring notation to advanced topics like tracking pitches, recording substitutions, and reading a completed scorecard. Each topic explains the general scoring concept first, then shows how it works in practice.

If you’re new to scoring, start with The Basics — it’ll take you from zero to confidently scoring a game in about 20 minutes of reading.

If you already know scoring and want to see how BaseballScorer handles a specific play type, jump straight to the section you need from the sidebar.

Sections#

  • The Basics#

    Why keep score, how the scorecard works, fielder numbers, and the notation system.

  • Tracking Pitches#

    Ball-strike counts, pitch-by-pitch recording, and what happens automatically.

  • Recording At-Bats#

    Hits, outs, errors, double plays, sacrifices — every result type and how to notate it.

  • Baserunning#

    Stolen bases, caught stealing, wild pitches, tag-ups, and the extra-innings ghost runner.

  • Managing the Game#

    Substitutions, pitching changes, challenges, undo, and ending the game.

  • The Scorecard#

    Reading the grid, the mini diamond, line scores, box scores, and printing.

  • Advanced Features#

    MLB live integration, auto-fill, reconciliation, practice mode, and custom rulesets.

  • Quick Reference#

    Cheat sheets for notation, colors, and fielder numbers.

How to Score Baseball - BaseballScorer