Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Kansas City at Detroit | 16:08 ET
Jeremy Guthrie (179.2 IP, 113 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR) faces Justin Verlander (178.0 IP, 111 xFIP-, 2.6 WAR). The Royals and Tigers are currently projected, by the methodology employed by this site, to record 89.4 and 89.1 total wins, respectively, this season — figures which the discerning reader will recognize as “largely indistinct” from each other. That the two clubs are both members of the AL Central and are both attempting to vanquish the other and are actually playing each other tonight — this is a recipe for drama. Or, in the parlance of those New Englanders who employ the intrusive R: a recipe for drammer.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
San Francisco at Detroit | 20:00 ET
Tim Hudson (172.2 IP, 94 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR) faces Kyle Lobstein (17.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR). Following play this past Thursday, the Giants and Tigers possessed odds of 54% and 67%, respectively, of qualifying for their leagues’ respective divisional series. Two subsequent Giants victories in Detroit, however, have aided slightly the cause of the former club (whose odds are now 56%) while damaging more substantially the latter’s (which now sit at 52%). Of some interest entering this game is rookie starter Kyle Lobstein, who, in his most recent start at Cleveland, recorded three times the strikeouts while throwing just half the innings of his first two major-league appearances combined. His final line from that game (box): 5.1 IP, 24 TBF, 10 K, 3 BB, 7 GB on 11 batted balls (63.6%), 2.01 xFIP.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio (ESPN Game).

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
San Francisco at Detroit | 13:08 ET
Madison Bumgarner (191.0 IP, 77 xFIP-, 3.8 WAR) faces David Price (210.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 4.9 WAR). The discerning reader will note, within the table below, that this contest has received a perfect 10 according to the metric devised incautiously by the author with a view towards estimating a game’s likely aesthetic appeal. One reason why is, is the Giants and Tigers enter today featuring playoff odds perilously close — along with Oakland, in fact, the perilously closest — to 50%. Bumgarner and Price, meanwhile, belong to that small class of pitchers who offer both above-average run prevention and above-average other-notable-qualities (like swinging-strike rate and/or overall strike rate and/or velocity, etc).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

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Episode 479
Kiley McDaniel is both (a) the lead prospect writer for FanGraphs and also (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he discusses mostly roster expansion but also not roster expansion, too.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 53 min play time.)

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
San Francisco at Detroit | 19:08 ET
Jake Peavy (171.1 IP, 111 xFIP-, 1.5 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (180.0 IP, 96 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR). Insofar as the two clubs here belong neither to the same division nor even the same actual league, one might suppose that the sense of urgency produced by this match is necessarily low-ish. What the numbers reveal, however, are two clubs among four total in the majors whose odds of reaching the divisional series remain within 20 points of 50%. To that end, then, really every match in which either is included offers much in the way of urgency. A more promising state of affairs, that, than for those of us who governed by the alternating forces of fear and depraved self-interest.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Televiion.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Detroit at Cleveland | 19:05 ET
Max Scherzer (187.2 IP, 78 xFIP-, 4.8 WAR) faces Trevor Bauer (124.0 IP, 107 xFIP-, 1.5 WAR). The American League’s Central division remains a source of no little intrigue. Following Cleveland’s victory over Detroit yesterday, for example — in conjunction with a Kansas City win, as well — the Tigers and Royals now feature nearly identical odds both of winning the division and also qualifying for the ALDS. Cleveland, not so much — although, with their curiously suspended game likely to result in another win, they’re not entirely negligible, either, as a playoff contender.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Detroit Radio.

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Episode 478
Jeff Sullivan is a frequent contributor to the electronic pages of FanGraphs. He’s also the decidedly reluctant guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 31 min play time.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Fringe Five is a weekly regular-season exercise, introduced last April by the present author, wherein that same ridiculous author utilizes regressed stats, scouting reports, and also his own heart to identify and/or continue monitoring the most compelling fringe prospects in all of baseball.

Central to the exercise, of course, is a definition of the word fringe, a term which possesses different connotations for different sorts of readers. For the purposes of the column this year, a fringe prospect (and therefore one eligible for inclusion in the Five) is any rookie-eligible player at High-A or above both (a) absent from all of three notable preseason top-100 prospect lists* and also (b) not currently playing in the majors. Players appearing on the midseason prospect lists produced by those same notable sources or, otherwise, selected in the first round of the current season’s amateur draft will also be excluded from eligibility.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Seattle at Oakland | 15:35 ET
Felix Hernandez (198.0 IP, 66 xFIP-, 5.5 WAR) faces Jon Lester (183.2 IP, 80 xFIP-, 5.5 WAR). Among those endeavors which are less difficult and complex than rocket science, one of them likely is identifying which of today’s games is most compelling. This one between the Mariners and Athletics, is the answer. On account of both clubs retain odds of qualifying for the playoffs somewhere between 0% and 100%. And also on account of how the two starting pitchers are among the league’s best. To that latter point, regard: Hernandez and Lester have the first- and 11th-highest projected rest-of-season projected WAR totals among all major-leauge pitchers.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by viscount of the internet Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game. Read more about the components of and formulae for NERD scores here.

Most Highly Rated Game
Seattle at Oakland | 22:05 ET
James Paxton (39.1 IP, 79 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR) faces Sonny Gray (178.0 IP, 92 xFIP-, 2.9 WAR). As recently as August 10, Oakland had a four-game lead over Anaheim and possessed odds of 79% and 90%, respectively, of winning the AL West and qualifying for the divisional series. Pretty convincing, those figures. As of Tuesday morning, however, only Kansas City faces less certainty with regard to the playoffs than the A’s. Emil Cioran’s mother was correct, then, one finds, when she told that same anguished Romanian philosopher: “Whatever people try to do, they’ll regret it sooner or later.”

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

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