 One aspect of baseball that is unique to the game and can be a bit confusing is the force out So let's take a look at that in a bit more detail As you know the defensive team can put a runner out by tagging him with the ball That is by touching him with the ball or touching him with their glove walk balls in it As long as the runner is not on a base tagging the runner is always an option to put him out When it comes to ground balls the other way that a team can put out a runner is through the force out Rather than trying to come up with a technical definition. Let's just jump into a few examples The simplest force out is one that you're probably already familiar with that is when the batter hits a ground ball in the infield Rather than picking up the ball and running over and tagging the runner out an infielder can field the ball And then throw it to the first baseman who will then step on first base If the first baseman can step on first base before the batter does then the batter is out in this situation The only place the batter can run is first base So in essence he is forced to run to first base thus creating the force out there Things get a bit more complicated when there are runners on base This time let's say we have a runner on first base and the batter gets up And he hits a ground ball to the shortstop Our batter is still forced to run to first base and we cannot have two runners on the same base at the same time Which means that our runner on first base is now forced to run to second base Which means that this has created a force out at second base as well So rather than trying to tag the runner out the shortstop can pick up the ball Walk over and step on second base, which would mean that our runner who started on first base is now out That does not necessarily mean the play is over though because the force out at first base for the batter still exists So the shortstop can now throw the ball to first base and if it beats the batter he will be out too If this happens that the defense gets two outs on the same play. This is called a double play Many times what you will see happen on a double play is that rather than the shortstop picking up the ball and running over to Second base himself the second baseman will run over to cover the base The shortstop will throw the ball to the second baseman who will step on second base And then he will turn and throw the ball to the first baseman Double plays can be exciting because they happen so quickly and there are so many things that have to happen perfectly In order for it to work one bad throw or a guy dropping the ball can ruin the whole play Now it is also a possibility that the defense will get the force out at second base But the runner will beat the throw to first base if that happens the force out at second base is still in out and the batter will now Be on first base Rather than being a single for the batter. This is called a fielder's choice If we have runners on both first and second base This means that there is a potential force out at first second and third base An infielder can pick up the ground ball and touch any base to get the force out and To take it one step further if the bases are loaded. There is also a force out on home plate as well So if there's a ground ball back to the pitcher He can pick it up throw it to the catcher and all he has to do is step on home plate and the runner Who is on third base will be out? The final thing we're going to look at is the removal of a force out in the middle of the play Now this doesn't happen all that often, but you'll see here why it is important to know when it does Let's go back to just having a runner on first base and when the runner is on first base He does not actually have to be touching the base. He can take a few steps towards second base This is called a lead-off. He has to be careful though because if he's not on the base This means that he can be tagged out at any point But back to our force out Let's say that there was a ground ball hit back to the pitcher And when the pitcher has the ball he can choose to throw it either to second base to get the force out there Or he can throw it to first base to get the out there. It doesn't matter which base he throws to it's completely up to him Let's say this time he throws to first base and the first baseman catches the ball Which means that the batter is now out What this also means is because the batter is out He is no longer forced to run to first base Which also means that the runner who started the play on first base is no longer forced to run to second base He can turn back around and run to first base if he wanted to now This means that if the first baseman were to throw the ball to second base The shortstop would have to tag the runner in order to put him out He cannot simply step on second base because the force out has been removed And so that's the force out in short when a defensive player has the ball And he puts out a runner by touching the base that that runner is being forced to run to Rather than actually tagging him out