operating in a less glamorous or aggressive way, focused on fundamentals and aiming at steady, methodical progress instead of flashier goals, as in “I know this new sales strategy sounds like small ball, but that’s how we win in the cloud software space”; the concept derives from the so-named strategy in the sport of baseball, in which a team seeks to win by grinding out runs through careful batting and patience rather than riskier extra base hits; also used in basketball, where the traditionally desirable tall and powerful lineup is replaced with speedier perimeter players who have greater ability to shoot from across the court, leading to fewer thunderous, crowd-pleasing slam dunks but more routine, efficient scoring