NERD Game Scores for Friday, August 15, 2014

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 Detroit | 19:08 ET
James Paxton (22.2 IP, 62 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (150.1 IP, 96 xFIP-, 2.6 WAR). While it’s unlikely that Kansas City will continue to win either 90% or 100% of their games, the victories they have recorded continue to render Detroit’s superior projected rest-of-season win percentage (.561 to .516) less and less relevant as fewer and fewer games remain to be played. The Tigers’ currently feature just 57.0% odds of winning the AL Central — the lowest figure for the club, that, since the beginning of the whole season, it would appear. They face the left-handed Paxton, who was excellent in two starts this April before missing four months with an injury and has been excellent in two starts since returning.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Maybe Surprising Baseball Information
It might surprise the reader to learn that Milwaukee right-hander Mike Fiers — who had recorded excellent numbers at Triple-A Nashville this season, but exhibited some difficulties at the major-league level in recent years — it might surprise the reader to learn that Fiers struck out 14 of the 22 batters he faced last night (box). That the opposition club might render that information perhaps less surprising. Still, it was enough, Fiers’ start, for him to produce a negative single-game FIP and xFIP (-1.04 and -0.62, respectively).

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same Seattle and Detroit teams discussed above, 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	6	5	6	4	10	CLE	Corey Kluber	19:05
Charlie Morton	PIT	4	10	6	4	5	WAS	Tanner Roark	19:05
James Paxton	SEA	10	6	7	8	6	DET	Rick Porcello	19:08
Trevor Cahill	AZ	5	3	4	4	4	MIA	Brad Hand	19:10
Travis Wood	CHN	2	3	3	2	7	NYN	Zack Wheeler	19:10
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	7	4	4	3	3	BOS	Clay Buchholz	19:10
Bran. McCarthy	NYA	10	3	5	4	7	TB	Alex Cobb	19:10
Jason Hammel	OAK	6	6	6	6	8	ATL	Alex Wood	19:35
Garrett Richards	LAA	9	8	5	3	0	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Danny Duffy	KC	3	10	5	3	4	MIN	Ricky Nolasco	20:10
Marcus Stroman	TOR	9	5	5	2	4	CHA	Hector Noesi	20:10
Tyson Ross	SD	8	3	6	8	4	STL	Lance Lynn	20:15
Johnny Cueto	CIN	8	3	4	4	0	COL	Franklin Morales	20:40
Jimmy Nelson	MIL	6	10	7	4	9	LAN	Zack Greinke	22:10
Cole Hamels	PHI	7	2	6	8	9	SF	Mad. Bumgarner	22:15

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