Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Tampa Bay at Seattle | 15:40 ET
Archer (38.1 IP, 76 xFIP-) vs. Walker (32.0 IP, 74 xFIP-)
During 2014, the season in which debuted, Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker walked more than 11% of the batters he faced over 38.0 innings. Had he recorded the requisite number of innings that year, Walker would have produced the second-highest walk rate among the league’s roughly 90 qualifiers. This season, over six starts and 32.0 innings, Walker has recorded a walk rate lower than every qualifier’s walk rate except for Clayton Kershaw’s walk rate. Is it evidence that people really can change? Or perhaps merely the product of variance, and the world remains cold and indifferent. This game will provide a single data point in support of one argument or the other.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Tampa Bay at Seattle | 22:10 ET
Smyly (39.2 IP, 81 xFIP-) vs. Miley (38.0 IP, 98 xFIP-)
Here one finds the Ben Zobrist of baseball games — which is to say, one distinguished not by the promise of dizzying heights, but by its thoroughgoing competence. Drew Smyly and Wade Miley both offer some aesthetic value, the former for his capacity to induce swings and misses (1.7 standard deviations more frequently than other starters), the latter for the multitude of strikes he throws (67.3% of pitches, 1.5 standard deviations better than average) and the pace at which he works (two standard deviations faster than average starter). Tampa Bay and Seattle’s hitters, meanwhile, also possess their merits. The Rays, a team composed merely of Tampa-area orphan children, have nevertheless produced the second-best park-adjusted home-run rate among all major-league clubs. The Mariners, meanwhile, are well-acquitted by that same measure.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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 NL at Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Matz (28.2 IP, 70 xFIP-) vs. Kazmir (31.2 IP, 103 xFIP-)
If the season ended right now, that’d be unusual. Because the 2016 schedule clearly dictates that games ought to be played through September, is why. And because literally millions of consumers have purchased tickets to contests scheduled for May 10th and beyond, is also why. If the season ended right now, it’d probably be the result either of some emergent issue within baseball itself — along the lines of a strike — or, alternatively, the product of a national crisis that would render the country’s taste for diversion either impractical or vulgar or both. If the season ended right now, it would likely mean that a lot of people’s lives had changed for the worse. In any case, if the season really did end right now, Mets left-hander Steven Matz would possess the second-best WAR mark among all rookie pitchers — behind only the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda, who’s a rookie in one sense but less of a rookie in another sense.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Boston at New York AL | 20:05 ET
Wright (32.1 IP, 105 xFIP-) vs. Severino (25.2 IP, 91 xFIP-)
Given both the width and also the breadth of the world — and all the possibilities contained within it — there’s a non-zero chance that someone on this earth has declared that “The only thing less appealing than watching one Red Sox-Yankees game is watching two Red Sox-Yankees games in a row.” Of course, such a statment is necessarily false. Because, regard: if one were to compose a list of unappealing things and yet omit a number of the more serious dermatological conditions — many of which Job himself would regard as a bit far-fetched — then one would have composed a flawed list. Moreover, one is forced to concede that a contest featuring by Steven Wright (a knuckleballer who’s experienced success this year so far) and Luis Severino (who’s produced one of the highest average fastball velocities) — that such a contest possesses some merit.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Boston at New York AL | 13:05 ET
Price (36.2 IP, 66 xFIP-) vs. Eovaldi (29.2 IP, 80 xFIP-)
For a number years — like when he was a Dodgers prospect and then when he was a starter for Miami and then during his first season with the Yankees, as well — for a number of years it’s seemed as though Nathan Eovaldi should prevent runs harder. There’s a strong correlation between arm speed and success, and Eovaldi possess the former in great volume. Regard: of the 316 pitchers to have recorded 100-plus innings as a starter since 2011 (when he debuted), Eovaldi has produced the fourth-highest average fastball velocity. Ahead of him? Only Noah Syndergaard, Yordano Ventura, and Gerrit Cole — in that order. Why this is relevant now is because Eolvadi, during his first five starts, has posted a strikeout rate over seven points greater than his career average. The reason, in no small part: a splitter which he’s emmploying more often — and with which he’s recording more whiffs — than ever.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Washington at Chicago NL | 14:20 ET
Scherzer (38.0 IP, 91 xFIP-) vs. Lackey (33.1 IP, 85 xFIP-)
It represents a classic case of “stating the obvious” to note how this game features, in the Cubs, probably the best major-league team in the majors, and also, in the Nationals, something not much worse than the best major-league team in the majors. Likewise, observing that Max Scherzer is an elite pitcher recalls for many of us that gentleman who pointed at the sky and made certain remarks on the subject of its blue-ness. Is John Lackey elite? Perhaps not. But his name is a byword for competence. In short, this game offers quality all around — plus also a version of Tommy La Stella who’s produced seven extra-base hits in fewer than 50 plate appearances.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Washington at Chicago NL | 20:05 ET
Ross (22.2 IP, 105 xFIP-) vs. Hendricks (23.0 IP, 73 xFIP-)
Of the 136 starters to have recorded 20-plus innings so far this year, only five have recorded a lower average fastball velocity than Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. Two of those five are knuckleballers. Another is Jered Weaver, whose fastball is so slow… How slow is it?… It’s so slow, one could author a slim collection of poorly conceived and executed jokes just like this one about it… And yet, what one finds is — despite Hendricks’ relative dearth of arm speed — is an equal and opposite amount of success. He induces grounders. He hardly walks anyone. He’s posted a league-average strikeout rate. Today, he also starts for the Cubs.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Arizona at Miami | 19:10 ET
de la Rosa (23.2 IP, 79 xFIP-) vs. Fernandez (28.2 IP, 71 xFIP-)
One comment regarding this game is that the merits of Miami right-hander Jose Fernandez are conspicuous. He’s young, throws hard, and possesses a refulgent light inside him that bathes everyone around. These truths are self-evident and achingly self-evident. Another comment regarding this game is that Rubby de la Rosa has produced consecutive brilliant starts, recording a 16:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio — and conceding just a single total run — in 13.0 total innings versus Pittsburgh and then St. Louis. One difference he’s exhibited: almost completely abandoning his (well-regarded) changeup while throwing more sliders than ever.

Here’s video footage depicting three of those sliders from his most recent start:

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Philadelphia at St. Louis | 20:15 ET
Nola (33.0 IP, 67 xFIP-) vs. Wacha (29.1 IP, 93 xFIP-)
Despite their 15-11 record, the most likely outcome for the 2016 iteration of the Phillies remains the very dim one intimated by this site’s preseason projections. The club’s BaseRuns record — which metric strips out sequencing — is the fifth-worst in the majors. The team’s hitters, meanwhile, have produced the second-worst collective WAR. They possess a 0.1% probability of qualifying for the postseason. What oughtn’t be ignored, however, is the starting rotation. As a group, they’ve recorded the league’s highest strikeout rate and fifth-best collective WAR. Entirely central to that effort has been right-hander Aaron Nola. Despite having produced an average fastball velocity of just 90.0 mph, Nola has nevertheless parlayed impressive command and largely unhittable curveball into one of the league’s best pitching lines.

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Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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.

A Brief Introduction
As the title indicates flawlessly, what this post represents is the first edition of NERD game scores for the 2016 season. As the brief italicized paragraph above indicates, NERD scores themselves 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.”

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