Daily Notes, Feat. High Stakes and Stronger Emotions

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Featured Game: Boston at Baltimore, 13:35 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Featured Game: Boston at Baltimore, 13:35 ET
What a Reader Might Be Saying
It’s possible that a reader, after noting how this game features, in fact, the lowest NERD score of the day — NERD itself being the infallible watchability metric crafted locally and sustainably by the author — that such a reader is saying something like, “This is ridiculous” or “I am outraged” or, if the reader is a woman from a 1930s studio film, “Why, I never.”

What a Reader Might Continue to Say
It’s possible that a reader, after proceeding as described above, might level the charge that NERD — contrary to the bold (foolhardy?!?) claims of its creator — is, in fact, not infallible. Such a reader might go so far as to suggest that NERD is either “quite” or “very” fallible.

Why a Reader Would Say All Those Things
Why a reader might say all those things as printed above is because the upstart Orioles are currently, unexpectedly tied with the despotic Yankees for first place in the AL East with just four games remaining in the season. The stakes are high! So are the emotions! What will happen?

How the Author Might Respond
It’s possible — likely, even — that the author would respond to the reader’s charges by playing the Blame Game.

How the Author Might Continue to Respond
It’s possible that, once tiring of the Blame Game, he (i.e. the author) would then purchase the Cities & Knights and/or Traders & Barbarians expansion sets for it.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Boston Radio (link).

Other Notable Games
New York AL at Toronto | 13:07 ET
This game is exciting for most of the same reasons as the Red Sox-Orioles one noted above. One thing: Henderson Alvarez, who starts for Toronto, has been quite good of late. In each of his last two starts he’s struck out at least a batter per inning (posting 13 K in 12.1 IP), something he’d done only once before in his previous 38 career starts.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Washington at St. Louis | 14:15 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
The Cardinals have a magic number — but no one can figure it out, which is what makes it magic.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 3.9.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Zack Greinke	LAA	8	7	6	6	8	TEX	Yu Darvish	13:05
Luke Hochevar	KC	5	6	3	2	6	CLE	Zach McAllister	13:05
Phil Hughes	NYA	5	7	3	4	5	TOR	Hend. Alvarez	13:07
Cole Hamels	PHI	9	6	4	4	5	MIA	Nathan Eovaldi	13:10
Zach Stewart*	BOS	6	4	2	3	3	BAL	Joe Saunders	13:35
Johnny Cueto	CIN	7	4	3	4	4	PIT	Wandy Rodriguez	13:35
Jenrry Mejia*	NYN	7	2	5	6	10	ATL	Kris Medlen	13:35
Anibal Sanchez	DET	7	4	3	4	3	MIN	Liam Hendriks	14:10
Jordan Lyles	HOU	6	4	5	10	7	MIL	Mike Fiers	14:10
David Price	TB	10	6	5	4	4	CHA	Jose Quintana	14:10
Ross Detwiler	WAS	5	7	5	9	8	STL	Lance Lynn	14:15
Erasmo Ramirez	SEA	9	4	5	7	6	OAK	Tommy Milone	16:05
Tim Lincecum	SF	7	4	4	6	5	SD	Edinson Volquez	16:05
Chris Rusin	CHN	4	2	3	7	6	AZ	Josh Collmenter	16:10
Jorge de le Rosa*	COL	5	6	3	1	5	LAN	Josh Beckett	16:10
Ervin Santana	LAA	4	7	4	6	6	TEX	Derek Holland	19:05

To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.