Investors love using sports metaphors. The other day I heard someone say they think we are in the 3rd inning of this market. This baseball analogy is one I have heard numerous times, and it used to fly over my head because the sport is not popular in the UK. Eventually, it resurfaced enough times that I ventured to understand its meaning. If you are unfamiliar with cricket or baseball, I suspect the metaphor might also be lost on you.
In baseball, a game is divided into nine innings. Each inning has two halves; the top and the bottom. In the top half of the inning, the visiting team bats while the home team fields. In the bottom half, the roles are reversed. The batting team want to score runs (when they complete a run around all the bases) and the fielding team want to score outs (rendering a batter or runner unable to play). There are numerous ways a player can be put out, but it’s not important for this conversation. If a team gets three outs during an inning, the inning ends and i…