What are the potential pitfalls of not properly defining fields in a database table for a ranking tool in PHP?

Potential pitfalls of not properly defining fields in a database table for a ranking tool in PHP include data inconsistency, inefficient queries, and difficulty in maintaining the codebase. To solve this issue, it is important to define the fields with the appropriate data types, lengths, and constraints to ensure data integrity and optimize query performance.

CREATE TABLE rankings (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    player_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    score INT NOT NULL,
    rank INT NOT NULL
);