The Definitive Online Sports Stylebook

The Ben Watanabe Sports Stylebook

baseball terms

  • OPS

    Acceptable in all instances (in baseball contexts) when referring to the on-base plus slugging statistic.

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  • WAR

    Acceptable in all instances (in baseball contexts) when referring to the wins above replacement statistic.

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  • batting average

    Never use the acronym “BA” in copy or in headlines.

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  • PitchCom

    The wireless technology used to help pitchers and catchers communicate in MLB. One word, capitalized.

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  • height and length

    Always use digits and spell out the unit of measurement: 2 meters; 11 inches Express height in X-foot-X format when used as an adjective: 6-foot-9; 7-foot Include hyphens when used as a noun: a 7-footer; a 2-miler Do not include hyphens for adjective descriptors that do not come before a noun: A football field is

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  • American League Championship Series

    Spell out on first reference in copy. ALCS should be used in headlines and in all subsequent references in copy. Use of championship series should be used less frequently, and not capitalized if it is used.

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  • National League Championship Series

    Spell out on first reference in copy. NLCS should be used in headlines and in all subsequent references in copy. Use of championship series should be used less frequently, and not capitalized if it is used.

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  • National League

    Spell out on first reference in copy. On second reference and in headlines, NL is acceptable. NL East, NL Central, and NL West are allowable in all instances.

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