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 | 16:05 ET
David Price (203.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 4.6 WAR) faces Corey Kluber (192.2 IP, 72 xFIP-, 5.8 WAR). Following a pair of victories against Kansas City — and a probably imminent, but also currently suspended, third win from Sunday’s game — Cleveland is now a non-negligible participant in the race for the AL Central. Even omitting that suspended game, the Clevelanders now possess better than 5% odds of winning the division — up from less than 2% entering play Saturday. Endeavoring to aid their clubs’ respective causes are Price and Kluber, two of the American League’s probably five most likely candidates — along with Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, and Max Scherzer — for the Cy Young award.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or 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
Milwaukee at San Francisco | 16:05 ET
Kyle Lohse (165.2 IP, 109 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR) faces Madison Bumgarner (185.0 IP, 78 xFIP-, 3.5 WAR). While the Giants have won the first two games of their series against the Brewers, the Dodgers have lost their first two games in San Diego. The result: a net gain of over 10 percentage points for San Francisco to their chances of winning the division — a gain which is perhaps most effectively depicted by the GIF below featuring the standings and playoff odds for all NL West clubs both from two days ago and then also this morning. (Click to enlarge instantly.)

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

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Episode 477
Dayn Perry is a contributor to CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball and the author of three books — one of them not very miserable. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which episode Perry engages both in figurative and actual plumbing.

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
Milwaukee at San Francisco | 21:05 ET
Mike Fiers (35.0 IP, 78 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces Jake Peavy (163.2 IP, 111 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). Since his early August promotion back to the majors, Fiers has been excellent over four starts, recording the second-highest strikeout rate (33.3%), third-lowest park-adjusted xFIP (63 xFIP-), and second-lowest park-adjusted ERA (32 ERA-) among the league’s 116 qualified starters in August. He is, for example, the sort of pitcher a club with the fourth-best odds of qualifying for an NLDS might want starting against the club with the fifth-best odds of doing that.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

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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
Milwaukee at San Francisco | 22:15 ET
Wily Peralta (162.0 IP, 99 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR) faces Ryan Vogelsong (150.0 IP, 108 xFIP-, 1.1 WAR). Despite a 1.5-game lead over the latter, Milwaukee currently possesses almost the exact precise chance of winning the NL Central as St. Louis, featuring odds of 44.5% (according to the methodology used by FanGraphs) against the Cardinals’ figure of 44.3%. The Giants, meanwhile, are among a small group of clubs whose odds of making the divisional series continue to hover around 50%. Not grounds for Highest Possible Drama, the aforementioned circumstances, but at least Reasonably High Drama.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

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Episode 476
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 his Rockies organizational list and all of the Chicago teams.

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 47 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
Oakland at Los Angeles AL | 22:05 ET
Sonny Gray (171.0 IP, 92 xFIP-, 2.8 WAR) faces C.J. Wilson (141.2 IP, 104 xFIP-, 0.6 WAR). Oakland and Anaheim enter this game featuring roughly equal odds of winning the AL West. The latter club currently holds a one-game lead over the former, but the A’s possess a better projected rest-of-season winning percentage than the Angels (.568 vs .534). It’s definitely not the case that anything could happen. Hair made of lead won’t fall from a star, for example, and then become the comet which destroys you, like happens in this one poem by Benjamin Peret. With regard to the future of this particular division, however, the outcome is uncertain.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

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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
New York AL at Detroit | 19:08 ET
Shane Greene (48.1 IP, 86 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces David Price (201.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 4.6 WAR). Despite continuing to trail Kansas City in the AL Central (by 1.5 games, currently) the Detroits remain the very slight favorites to win that same division, currently possessing 52% odds of doing so — versus the Royals’ mark of 46% — by the methodology used at this site. As for the remaining 2%, that’s assigned to Cleveland. The Twins and White Sox, meanwhile, will play out the balance of their respective schedules entirely free of Hope — i.e. a concept represented in Norse mythology, obviously, as saliva that’s dripped from the mouth of a giant wolf.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

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Episode 475
Trevor Bauer is a real-live major-league baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He’s also the guest on this edition of FanGraphs Audio, in conversation with August Fagerstrom. Don’t hesitate to read Fagerstrom’s companion piece at the Beacon Journal.

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 36 min play time.)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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