The Best Baserunning Team in MLB

After the playoffs, you’d be expected to think that the Royals were far and away the best baserunning team in baseball in 2014. Royals Alex Gordon and Terrance Gore were the only two players with more than two steals in the postseason, and that does not even mention the team’s most prolific basestealers from the regular season: Jarrod Dyson, Alcides Escobar, and Lorenzo Cain. And in the regular season, the Royals stole 153 bases, 15 more than the second place team.

The 2014 baserunning narrative probably does not conjure images of the Washington Nationals, who finished just 12th in stolen bases and had just one player with 30-plus steals (Denard Span), one player with 20-plus steals (Ian Desmond), and one player with 10-plus steals (Anthony Rendon). It may surprise you to know then that the Nationals were actually the best baserunning team in baseball last season:

Net Gain is a Bill James-created statistic that comprehensively measures baserunning by including advancements on hits and outs in addition to stolen bases. By that measure—as well as some other comprehensive baserunning statistics such as BsR, explained here—the Nationals were the best baserunning team in 2014 and actually more than twice as successful as the Royals.

The keys to the Nationals’ baserunning success were taking extra bases and avoiding outs. Despite their modest stolen base totals, Anthony Rendon, Ian Desmond, and Jason Werth were all in the top 10 in extra bases taken. Meanwhile, Bryce Harper made eight outs on the basepaths and was the only National in the bottom 50 of baserunner outs in baseball.