For reference, the average DER in this past season was .693.
There are 78 teams. We have data for 11 seasons of each. That's 858 individual teams with DER ratings.
Exactly one of those 858—the 1884 #VejigantesLOÍ —beats that mark, and just barely, with a .698 DER.
The Ñocos aren't the top defensive team—you want the #NavegadoresNAG
or the #VejigantesLOÍ
for that—but they're certainly better than average.
The problem is that, in 1885, "better than average" is a .903 fielding percentage, and that's a bad metric anyway.
No fielding metric is perfect, but in defensive efficiency ratio, the Mulos hover around .020 better than LB average since the first Almanaques we have.
They just do it a little more clumsily than we're used to.