Every pitch in baseball is a battle. Every contest between a pitcher and a batter is a skirmish that bears on who will win game. Although baseball is a team sport, each individual must fulfill their role for team to win. If a batter gets lazy, he may miss pitch that he could launch for a game-winning home run. If an infielder makes a throwing error, he may be throwing away game.

The closest parallel to business is battle between pitcher and batter. The pitcher must fight for every pitch, and batter must contend with every pitch. If either let up for just one pitch, end result of game could be in jeopardy.

The pitcher must know batter well enough to decide which pitch to throw. Every pitch is crucial. If pitcher throws too many balls and falls behind in count, it becomes a hitter’s count. If pitcher challenges batter with strikes and moves ahead in count, it becomes a pitcher’s count and pitcher has more flexibility in how he can pitch to batter.

The batter must know pitcher well enough to guess at pitches he will be thrown. He must protect plate. He must know his own best hitting zones, and foul off pitches that might be strikes so he is not called out on strikes.