Baseball is a game of numbers. What are the odds that Derek Jeter is going to hit the ball? How many points do opponents normally score off Pedro Martinez? How much money is Alex Rodriguez going to have to pay to the IRS? With all these numbers floating around the game of baseball, baseball statisticians (is that a real job or did I just make that up?) have invented some terminology to make the game all that much more fun to study. What follows is a list of common (and official even!) abbreviations for baseball terminology. BTW, if you want to see someone really crank out the numbers, check out Rob Neyer's column on espn.com.

Offensive Statistics:
AB - Times at Bat
AVG - Batting Average
BB - Walks (Bases on Balls)
CS - Caught Stealing
DO - Doubles (2B is common, but not official)
GDP - Ground into Double Plays
GP - Games Played
GS - Games Started
GSH - Grand Slam Home Runs
H - Hits
HP - Hit by Pitch
HR - Home Runs
IBB - Intentional Walks
OBP - On-Base Percentage
OPS - On-Base Percentage plus Slugging Percentage
R - Runs Scored
RBI - Runs Batted In
SB - Stolen Bases
SF - Sacrifice Flies
SH - Sacrifice Hits (Bunts)
SLG - Slugging Percentage
SO - Strikeouts
TB - Total Bases
TR - Triples (3B is common, but not official!)

Pitching Statistics:
AO - Fly Outs (Air)
BB - Walks (Bases on Balls)
BK - Balks
CG - Complete Games
CGL - Complete Game Losses
ER - Earned Runs
ERA - Earned Run Average
GF - Games Finished
GO - Ground Outs
GOAO - Ground Outs / Fly Outs Ratio
GP - Games Played
GS - Games Started
H - Hits
HBP - Hit Batters
HR - Home Runs
IBB - Intentional Walks
IP - Innings Pitched
IRA - Inherited Runs Allowed
IPS - Innings Per Start
L - Losses
MB9 - Baserunners Per 9 Innings
OBA - Opponents' Batting Average
PA - Plate Appearances
R - Runs
RPF - Relief Failures
RW - Relief Wins
S/SHO - Shutouts
SO - Strikeouts
SV - Saves
SVO - Save Opportunities
TB - Total Bases
W - Wins
WP - Wild Pitches

Defensive Statistics
A - Assits
CS - Caught Stealing
DP - Double Plays
E - Errors
GP - Games Played
OFA - Outfield Assists
PB - Passed Balls
PK - Pickoffs
PO - Putouts
SB - Stolen Bases
TC - Total Chances
TP - Triple Plays

Here are some other abbreviations I've seen around, usually on espn.com. I don't think they're official, but they get used all the same. If anyone else sees something that's missing, please message me.

BI - Batted In
LOB - Left on Base
T - Length of Game
A - Attendance as well as assists (see above)

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