Daily Notes: Saturday’s Notable Games of Note

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

1. Saturday’s Notable Games of Note
2. Today’s MLB.TV Free Game(s)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Saturday’s Notable Games of Note
Introductory Note
As the table below indicates, stolen entirely from the playoff odds located elsewhere on this site, three American League teams enter play on Saturday each with a reasonable opportunity of qualifying for the league’s two wild-card spots.

To wit:

The Texas Rangers play Los Angeles of Anaheim at 12:05pm ET, a game which features Garrett Richards and Derek Holland — both of whom have recorded above-average NERD scores this season — in a starting capacity. An hour later, at 1:05pm ET, Cleveland starts Scott Kazmir, arguably the major leagues’ best starter over the last month, in a game at Minnesota. Finally, young right-hander Chris Archer (126.1 IP, 100 xFIP-, 1.1 WAR) starts for Tampa Bay at Toronto at 1:07pm ET.

If Pittsburgh beats Cincinnati in either of this weekend’s games between the two clubs, the Pirates will secure home-field advantage for the wild-card game — also between these same clubs. Saturday’s game begins at 1:05pm ET and features Charlie Morton (7 NERD) versus Bronson Arroyo (5 NERD).

One debut is scheduled for Saturday: right-handed Milwaukee prospect Jimmy Nelson’s debut as a starter in the majors. Nelson recorded strikeout and walk rates of 24.8% and 9.9%, respectively, in 152.1 innings this year between the Brewer Double- and Triple-A affiliates.

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game(s)
Every Game, Apparently
It would appear as though every game today has been designated as the free game.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Any of Them, It Appears.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Typically, what appears below here is the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) score for each one. However, the particular set of conditions determining watchability at the moment are somehow both (a) obvious but also (b) difficult to aggregate satisfactorily into a number between 0 and 10.

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