"Some parks feature deep left- or right-field gaps, some shallower." "The tying and go-ahead runners were on base when Justin Turner drove the ball into the left-center gap." Where is the left field gap? Is it the area between the left field and the fence? Is 'left-center gap' the area between the left-center field and the fence? Thanks in advance for your help.
Here's what Sporting Charts has to say: A term in baseball that refers to the area on the field, or diamond, left open as a result of defensive positioning. [cut] In the outfield, gaps exist between center field and right or left field. Hitters are often trying to hit the ball into the gap since there are no defensive players there. To counter this, defensive players will often position themselves in the area of the field where the hitter is most likely to hit the ball. [cut] The reason there are gaps – areas not well covered by players – is that outfields are enormous. You can visit the page to see the cuts I made to stay within the four-sentence limit.
You're welcome ... but reading your question again, I'm not sure I addressed the details. Here's an image of a left-field gap from Google Images: But the original quotation talks about deep and shallow gaps; in that case, I suppose they're talking about the distance between the infield and the outfield walls – the diamond is always the same size, but the distance to the walls will vary from park to park. So you can have gaps to the left and right, and gaps in front of and behind a player's position.
