It seems like only yesterday that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, but it’s already spring training time again. The Major League Baseball season is just around the corner, so it’s time to brush up on these incredibly obscure but very real baseball rules.

• A team’s manager or coach can call a break in the game to go talk to their pitcher. The meeting is considered over once the coach leaves the 18-foot radius surrounding the pitcher’s plate. If he heads back to the mound, say, if he forgot to discuss something, that’s in violation of the rules and the coach has to replace the pitcher.

• If there are runners on base, and a ball for whatever reason gets lodged in the umpire’s face mask, good news…for the runners. They all get to advance by one base.

• The “ground rule double” is a relatively common occurrence in baseball. If a batter hits a ball, and it bounces in the outfield and then into the stands and out of play, he gets to take two bases, or a default double. Less common is the ground rule triple. If a player merely attempts to catch a hit ball with their cap (or mask, in the case of the catcher), the batter automatically gets to take third base.

• While it seems like a baseball game can stretch on forever, especially as a pitcher debates his next pitch, there’s actually a time limit. It’s almost never enforced, but a pitcher technically has 12 seconds to deliver a pitch (if the bases are empty).

• Players on a team’s active roster are not allowed to sit in the grandstands.

• If a runner on third base tries to steal home—and gets hit by a pitched ball while doing so—every other runner gets to move up a base.

• Uniformed stadium security guards stationed on the field are considered to be “in play” if struck by a pitch. In other words, if they get hit, it’s not a foul ball—players have to pick up and throw a ball if it just hit a security guard, for example.

• One of the main differences between the American League and the National League is the AL’s use of the designated hitter. In lieu of a pitcher taking their turn at bat, each team gets a guy who just hits and doesn’t take the field in the team’s defensive half of each inning. The AL is very serious about keeping their hitters designated hitters—they are forbidden from hanging out in a team’s bullpen.