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(s)
Minnesota at DETROIT | 13:08 ET
PITTSBURGH at Cincinnati | 13:10 ET
KANSAS CITY at Chicago AL | 14:10 ET
OAKLAND at Texas | 15:05 ET
Los Angeles AL at SEATTLE | 16:10 ET
ST. LOUIS at Arizona | 16:10 ET
Three sets of clubs — each of which is denoted by capital letters above — enter the final day of the season separated by only a game in pursuit of some manner of postseason berth. The Tigers lead the Royals by that amount in the AL Central; the A’s lead the Mariners in the AL Wild Card; and the Cardinals, the Pirates in the NL Central. Notably, the only club which faces elimination today are the Seattles. A loss for them, or an Oakland win, would secure the second wild-card spot for the latter club. A more complete understanding of today’s possible scenarios is available via an inspection of the playoff odds.

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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 Texas | 20:05 ET
Jeff Samardzija (212.2 IP, 83 xFIP-, 4.1 WAR) faces Derek Holland (34.1 IP, 96 xFIP-, 1.3 WAR). With some combination of an Oakland win or Seattle loss, the former of those clubs will clinch the second wild-card spot in the American League. With a combination both of a Texas loss and Colorado win, the former of those clubs will move closer to securing the third-overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft — as illustrated, that, by MLB Trade Rumors’ helpful reverse standings.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas 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
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati | 19:10 ET
Vance Worley (104.1 IP, 96 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR) faces Mike Leake (207.1 IP, 95 xFIP-, 1.8 WAR). The NL Central represents the only division currently in which a second-plus club features odds of winning that division above 5%. Here, by way of illustration, are Pittsburgh’s odds right now, per the methodology used at FanGraphs: 20%. And also the first-place Cardinals’ odds: 80%. Starting for the Pittsburghers is Worley, who possesses, among other virtues, the capacity to delight Jeff Sullivan.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cincinnati 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 Toronto | 16:07 ET
Tom Wilhelmsen (77.0 IP, 94 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR) faces Daniel Norris (124.2 IP, 32.5% K, 8.6% BB in Minors). This game, despite featuring little — one might reasonably say just 0.4% — in the way of playoff implications, does represent the left-handed Norris’s first major-league start. A second-round pick in 2011 by Toronto out of a Tennessee high school, Norris entered the season having exhibited both excellent moments and also command issues during his minor-league career. After recording promising figures both at High- and Double-A this season, though, he transformed essentially into a starting version of Aroldis Chapman with Triple-A Buffalo, with which club he produced strikeout and walk rates of 44.7% and 9.4%, respectively, over five appearances and 22.2 innings.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto 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 Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Tim Hudson (184.0 IP, 96 xFIP-, 1.7 WAR) faces Clayton Kershaw (190.1 IP, 57 xFIP-, 6.8 WAR). The Dodgers could clinch the NL West with a win tonight against the Giants. One assumes such an event — a clear indicator of success in their respective field — would make the players on that club happy. But how happy? And for how long? In fact, a meta-analysis of the extant literature conducted by California-Riverside’s Sonja Lyubomirsky reveals that, while success in one’s vocation is a source of happiness, it is also just as often a product of happiness. Unfortunate news, that, for the melancholy among us — who, of course, will have regarded their respective failures as inevitable, anyway.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Basically All of Them.

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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
Kansas City at Cleveland | 19:05 ET
Yordano Ventura (172.0 IP, 99 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Danny Salazar (105.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 1.6 WAR). Were the members of Cleveland’s 40-man roster to choose collectively a song that might best encapsulate the spirit they must necessarily adopt as a group in their attempt to qualify for the playoffs despite limited odds of doing so, “Livin’ on a Prayer” from Bon Jovi’s 1986 album Slippery When Wet would represent a reasonable option. Which odds are lower, though, one might ask: Cleveland’s actual chances of qualifying for those playoffs, or the probability that tonight’s starter Danny Salazar, born four years later in Santo Domingo, is familiar at all with that song? In either case, it’s both (a) tough and (b) so tough.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland 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
Los Angeles AL at Oakland | 22:05 ET
C.J. Wilson (169.0 IP, 105 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR) faces Jeff Samardzija (205.2 IP, 83 xFIP-, 3.9 WAR). A newspaper editor, were he so inclined, might very likely attach to a story regarding the former of these pitchers and his interest in advanced metrics — he might attach to such a story the headline C.J. Wilson’s WAR, a reference, that, to the similarly named 2007 film starring Tom Hanks. A noxious weblogger, needing to produce some manner of content in a space like this one and also wishing to make the same reference — but recognizing, simultaneously, that said reference lacks sophistication — that noxious weblogger might very likely craft a brief but elaborate scenario in which a hypothetical newspaper editor has made the reference instead. In either case, they will reap what they have so egregiously sown.

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
Milwaukee at Pittsburgh | 13:35 ET
Wily Peralta (184.2 IP, 101 xFIP-, 1.0 WAR) faces Vance Worley (96.1 IP, 98 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR). The Brewers entered play yesterday with just a 1% probability of qualifying for the play-in game, odds which increased to ca. 3% following the club’s 1-0 victory over the Pirates on Saturday (box). Did their odds triple, or improve by two mere percentage points? How the reader answers that question is illustrative of his/her view of the world.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio*.

*Unless Bob Uecker hasn’t traveled. In which case: Milwaukee Television?

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This edition of FanGraphs’ NERD scores has appeared later than usual, on account of the author’s dog America ate a weird thing and required a visit to the local veterinary clinic. Everyone is healthy now, although the author is also $100 poorer.

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 Kansas City | 13:05 ET
Max Scherzer (207.1 IP, 82 xFIP-, 5.1 WAR) faces James Shields (214.1 IP, 93 xFIP-, 3.7 WAR). While most assume that Big Game James is actually a sobriquet having been assigned to the Kansas City right-hander for his performances in important contests, the truth is that Big Games James Shields is actually the pitcher’s full given name — and appears on his birth certificate — but that he’s generally gone just by “James” so that friends and acquaintances wouldn’t mistake him for a conceited. In either case, his club would benefit from a strong showing against the Tigers, who lead the Royals by 1.5 games in the Central.

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
Detroit at Kansas City | 20:10 ET
Justin Verlander (190.2 IP, 112 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Jason Vargas (179.2 IP, 104 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR). In the event that one were interested in consuming a game between two clubs separated by almost nothing at the top of their respective division and with similar odds of winning that same division, then one would be — perhaps already is, without the aid of this brief paragraph — interested in consuming this particular game, so far as it fits the aforementioned criteria. Those with less interest in high-leverage baseball should consider directing their attention to almost every other game tonight.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

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