For baseball, the stat you usually want is runs allowed per game over the last 5 games , or more simply team ERA over the last 5 games if you want pitching-based defense. If you mean fielding specifically, a better fit is Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) or Outs Above Average (OAA) , but those are usually tracked over a season, not just a tiny 5-game sample.

Best quick stat

  • Runs allowed per game, last 5 games. This is the fastest way to judge how well a team’s defense/pitching has held up recently.
  • Last-5 team ERA. Good if you want a pitching-heavy snapshot, since pitching and defense are often mixed together in baseball.
  • DRS or OAA. Better for true defense quality, but less useful for a short 5-game window.

What to use

If you’re asking for a simple “how good has this team’s defense been lately?” metric, use runs allowed per game in the last 5 games. If you want something more advanced, use team defensive metrics like DRS or OAA , knowing they’re stronger over larger samples.

Plain-English example

A team that allowed 2, 3, 1, 4, and 2 runs in its last five games is giving up 2.4 runs per game recently. That suggests strong recent run prevention, even if one or two games were messy. TL;DR: For a quick last-5-game defense read in baseball, use runs allowed per game ; for a more advanced defensive measure, use DRS or OAA.