NERD Game Scores: An Historic Zack Greinke Possible Event

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
Washington at Pittsburgh | 13:35 ET
Ross (26.2 IP, 66 xFIP-) vs. Cole (124.2 IP, 79 xFIP-)
Owing to the author’s combo package of ungovernable sloth and wide-ranging incompetence, there’s no adjustment included in any of the NERD algorithms to account for those games in which a player is expected to pursue some manner of historical record. So, for example, Zack Greinke’s current streak of 43.2 consecutive scoreless innings is ignored by the figures one finds in the table below. Fortunately, the totalitarian dystopia within which one is forced by law to watch only the top-rated game as determined by the author — fortunately, that bleak hellscape exists only in the future. As such, the reader is permitted to observe Greinke’s start without recourse.

Were one interested in consuming a different game, however, this Washington-Pittsburgh contest would appear to offer no little aesthetic possibility. Both of the relevant clubs are currently in the very real midst of a postseason race. Moreover, one finds that Joe Ross and Gerrit Cole are scheduled to start — the latter having been excellent this season, like everyone expected; the former, also excellent, but in a way no one expected at all.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Washington Radio.

One Other Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Baltimore at Tampa Bay, starts at 13:10 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and very sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and also the rest of the internet. Note that the calculations both for team and game NERD scores have changed recently to better integrate playoff odds into same. Read more about those changes here, if you’re the sort of person accustomed to making poor life decisions.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	5	6	4	3	0	TB	Matt Moore	13:10
Carlos Rodon	CHA	8	1	5	4	10	CLE	Danny Salazar	13:10
Zack Greinke	LAN	6	8	7	6	10	NYN	Jacob deGrom	13:10
Joe Ross	WAS	10	7	9	8	10	PIT	Gerrit Cole	13:35
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	9	10	8	5	9	KC	Yordano Ventura	14:10
Nathan Eovaldi	NYA	7	8	6	5	5	MIN	Kyle Gibson	14:10
Matthew Wisler	ATL	4	2	4	3	9	STL	Michael Wacha	14:15
Aaron Nola*	PHI	10	2	6	5	7	CHN	Jason Hammel	14:10
Nick Martinez	TEX	2	3	5	8	8	LAA	Andrew Heaney	15:35
Kend. Graveman	OAK	4	4	5	8	4	SF	Tim Hudson	16:05
Mi. Lorenzen	CIN	3	4	3	3		COL	Kyle Kendrick	16:10
Mat Latos	MIA	6	5	4	3	4	SD	Od. Despaigne	16:10
Matt Garza	MIL	4	3	4	5	4	AZ	Jeremy Hellickson	16:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	5	10	7	3	10	SEA	Taijuan Walker	16:10
Shane Greene	DET	4	4	4	3	7	BOS	Ed. Rodriguez	20:08

* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.