My scan of the box scores each morning often focuses on how many earned runs a pitcher gave up or whether there was a key error that changed the game. I’m a huge believer in defense wins or loses games. I think it goes back to a city tournament game I played in at age 11 when I made a throwing error on a critical play. I still hear my manager saying “we just can’t beat ourselves”. If you take a close look at the error column in today’s box scores, you might be surprised about how few errors are made in MLB now. This year MLB teams are on a pace to set the all-time record in fielding percentage. It’s been a trend over the last several years that errors are decreasing in the game. Let’s take a look at error free defense.

It hasn’t always been that way. On May 6, 1903, the White Sox and Tigers combined for a record 18 errors in a game played at South Side Park in Chicago. The Sox tied the team record that day with 12 errors and despite that, still won the game 10-9. Historians look back and discount the number of miscues citing that the gloves used by the fielders were modest and that the baseballs themselves were uneven due to overuse. Yet, that still is a lot of errors and will easily be a record never to be broken. The Chicago Daily Tribune called it “the craziest game that ever disgraced a major league diamond”.

An historical look at most errors by players at their respective fielding positions focuses on names in the early to mid 1900s, most of whom are unknown to me. The 20th century record of a whopping 711 errors is held by Rabbit Maranville, a shortstop who played for 23 seasons with the Braves, Cardinals, and Pirates. Rabbit also happened to be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1954. I was surprised to see Ty Cobb on the all-time position lists, 271 errors as an outfielder. On the flip side though, Steve Garvey, first baseman, holds the record for the fewest in a season, zero.

Why has baseball been more error free in recent times? There are a handful of obvious answers. Baseball fields today provide much better playing surfaces leading to truer bounces. I’m constantly amazed at how well the grass is maintained at Wrigley Field. Of course, the modern baseball glove helps as well. There is no comparison between the mitt you used as a youth to the gloves of today – wider, softer, and deeper. With advanced analytics, the defense is provided with an assortment of charts suggesting the tendencies of hitters and where the ball will most likely be hit.

MLB players today think it is more than that, pointing to official scoring as making a difference. When the rules changed in 2023 not allowing extreme shifts (two infielders need to be on each side of second base), some players, especially pitchers whose ERA is impacted, believe that scorers have leaned too much on granting hits. Angels’ then pitcher Patrick Sandoval in 2023 went so far as saying: “I have a little conspiracy about it: That they (MLB) are telling the scorers to be more lenient with the hits so they can be like, ‘Oh, the new rules work. You have more hits.’” Chris Marinak, MLB’s chief operations and strategy officer, denies the theory and maintains that what qualified as routine in 2022 prior to the rules change was no longer routine now, and when in doubt scorers default to leniency.

Most of the excellence in team defense is recent. Fielding percentage is basically the rate at which fielders successfully handle defensive chances without making an error. Last year’s Texas Rangers are the best ever with a fielding percentage of .99112, followed by the 2013 Baltimore Orioles (.99104), and the 2025 Atlanta Braves (.99102). A story is developing in Los Angeles as the 2026 Dodgers are on pace to set an all-time defensive record with a current fielding percentage of .993. The Padres and Royals are following on their heels, both with fielding percentages of .991.

As I often do, I like to look back and compare the Big Red Machine of the 1970s in some key categories. Just like the Dodgers of today, you think of that team as an offensive powerhouse but not necessarily defensive wizards. But they were, especially up the middle with catcher Johnny Bench, second baseman Joe Morgan, shortstop Dave Concepcion, and centerfielder Cesar Geronimo. The 1975 Reds team had the fewest errors in the NL that season, along with a team fielding percentage of .984. Bench himself maintained a .989 fielding percentage, best ever by a catcher. Yes, defense wins games.

Defensive excellence in today’s game is not just measured by fielding percentage. There are all sorts of comparative standards – defensive runs saved; how often a team turns a ground ball or bunt into an out; how often a team turns a ball in the air into an out; and outfield arm runs saved. I’m sure there are others as well. And of course it’s not a surprise which 2026 MLB team leads in all those categories, the Dodgers!

Another indicator of winning baseball is having a pitching staff that limits walks to opposing batters. Now, more than ever with the kind of team defense we are seeing, it makes sense for pitchers to focus on having the batters put the ball in play. As my manager years ago would say, “we just can’t beat ourselves”.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach