Daily Notes, Featuring a Not Unimportant Game in LA
Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.
1. Featured Game: Detroit at Los Angeles AL, 15:35 ET
2. Other Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule
Featured Game: Detroit at Los Angeles AL, 15:35 ET
Regarding This Game What’s Notable About It
A thing that’s notable about this game between the Tigers and Angels is how it’s not unimportant so far as the postseason fate of each of the named teams is concerned.
Regarding the Tigers, Their Playoff Odds
According to Cool Standings, Detroit currently has a 32.4% chance of making the playoffs: a 29.3% probability of winning the AL central and 3.1% one of qualifying for the wild-card game.
Regarding the Angels, Their Playoff Odds
According to the same helpful internet source cited above, Los Angeles’s playoff odds are currently at 36.3%, including a 2.2% chance of winning the AL West and 34.1% one of qualifying for the wild-card game.
Regarding “Not Unimportant,” Of Which Rhetorical Device It’s an Example
The phrase “not unimportant” is an example of the rhetorical device litotes (pronounced “lie-TOE-teez”), characterized ably by Wikipedia as “a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis.”
Regarding Litotes, Why a Person Might Use It
A person might use litotes in an effort to effect the speech of a 19th century Bostonian aristocrat.
Regarding Litotes, Why Else a Person Might Use It
A person might also use litotes in an effort to avoid superlative adjectives, which are largely the province of pubescent girls.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast
Per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project, FanGraphs readers prefer Detroit Radio (link).
Other Notable Games
Texas at Tampa Bay | 13:40 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
This has been the other not unimportant series this weekend. In this particular installment, Roy Oswalt (52.1 IP, 82 xFIP-, 0.8 WAR) faces James Shields (190.0 IP, 82 xFIP-, 3.2 WAR).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio.
Arizona at San Diego | 16:05 ET
San Diego left-hander, and former independent-leaguer, Andrew Werner’s first three major-league starts have been rather impressive. To wit: 18.0 IP, 23.9% K, 7.0% BB, 55.3% GB, 3.30 SIERA, 90 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR. He faces rookie left-hander Patrick Corbin (80.2 IP, 92 xFIP-, 1.4 WAR).
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Arizona 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 4.7.
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 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tyler Chatwood | COL | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | PHI | Cole Hamels | 13:05 |
Tommy Hanson | ATL | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | NYN | Chris Young | 13:10 |
Edgar Gonzalez* | HOU | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | CIN | Johnny Cueto | 13:10 |
Chris Rusin* | CHN | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 9 | PIT | Jeff Locke* | 13:35 |
Ricky Nolasco | MIA | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | WAS | Edwin Jackson | 13:35 |
Freddy Garcia | NYA | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 7 | BAL | Zach Britton | 13:35 |
Carlos Villanueva | TOR | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | BOS | Clay Buchholz | 13:35 |
Roy Oswalt | TEX | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | TB | James Shields | 13:40 |
Corey Kluber | CLE | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | MIN | Esmer. Vasquez* | 14:10 |
Jeremy Guthrie | KC | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | CHA | Hector Santiago* | 14:10 |
Shaun Marcum | MIL | 5 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 6 | STL | Joe Kelly | 14:15 |
Anibal Sanchez | DET | 6 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 8 | LAA | Zack Greinke | 15:35 |
Patrick Corbin | AZ | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | SD | Andrew Werner* | 16:05 |
Tommy Milone | OAK | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | SEA | Jason Vargas | 16:10 |
Drew Pomeranz | COL | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 8 | PHI | Tyler Cloyd* | 18:35 |
Clayton Kershaw | LAN | 10 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | SF | Barry Zito | 20:05 |
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.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I knew about litotes but didn’t know it had a name. Carson Cistulli isn’t half bad.