Phillies Lead the NL in Stolen-Base Success Rate in 2026
Philadelphia's 85.5% stolen-base success rate ranks first among all 15 National League teams through August 28 — the opposite of the worst baserunning team in the league.
Published: · Figures as of August 30, 2026
Asked: Are the Phillies Must The Worst Base Running Team in The National League
No — Philadelphia actually leads the NL in stolen-base success rate
Checking this against the National League's actual stolen-base data for 2026, the premise doesn't hold. The Phillies have succeeded on 85.5% of their stolen-base attempts (94 steals, caught only 16 times) — the best stolen-base success rate of any NL team, not the worst.
NL stolen-base success rate, 2026 season (all games through 8/28)
| Rank | Team | SB | CS | SB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philadelphia Phillies | 94 | 16 | 85.5% |
| 2 | Chicago Cubs | 99 | 18 | 84.6% |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 108 | 21 | 83.7% |
| 4 | Washington Nationals | 144 | 32 | 81.8% |
| 5 | Arizona Diamondbacks | 92 | 23 | 80.0% |
| 6 | San Diego Padres | 128 | 33 | 79.5% |
| 7 | St. Louis Cardinals | 84 | 22 | 79.2% |
| 8 | Milwaukee Brewers | 133 | 39 | 77.3% |
| 9 | Miami Marlins | 137 | 42 | 76.5% |
| 10 | Cincinnati Reds | 91 | 29 | 75.8% |
| 11 | Atlanta Braves | 67 | 22 | 75.3% |
| 12 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 55 | 18 | 75.3% |
| 13 | San Francisco Giants | 56 | 19 | 74.7% |
| 14 | Colorado Rockies | 94 | 35 | 72.9% |
| 15 | New York Mets | 72 | 28 | 72.0% |
Philadelphia isn't just avoiding "worst" — it sits at the top of the whole NL table, 0.9 points clear of the Cubs. On volume, the Phillies are middle-of-the-pack: their 94 attempts are tied for 7th-most in the league (Washington leads with 144), so this isn't a case of a team that barely runs padding an artificial rate — they run a normal amount and get thrown out less often than everyone else in the league.
Boundary on what this covers: stolen-base success rate and volume are the only baserunning measures this data can compute cleanly — there's no way here to measure taking an extra base on a single or double, being doubled off on a fly ball, or outs made stretching on the bases, which are real parts of "baserunning" that this doesn't capture. So this is a full, accurate answer on stolen-base efficiency specifically, not a complete verdict on every baserunning skill.
Confidence: High on the stolen-base finding — it's a full-season, exact computation across all 15 NL clubs. The broader "worst baserunning team" claim can only be answered as far as steals go, and on that measure the Phillies are the opposite of worst.