NERD Game Scores for Friday, September 11, 2015

September 11, 2015

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
Toronto at New York AL | 19:05 ET
Price (196.1 IP, 83 xFIP-) vs. Severino (35.1 IP, 94 xFIP-)
On account of how yesterday’s version of this same precise matchup — which was also that day’s most highly rated game — on account of how it was postponed, it follows that all of the remarks which appear in that edition of these scores remain relevant today. It’s a reflection of that repetition which humans must constantly endure, this postponement.

In conclusion, here is “Monday” by dead Italian polymath Primo Levi:

Is there anything sadder than a train
That leaves when it’s supposed to,
That has only one voice,
Only one route?
There’s nothing sadder.

Except perhaps a cart horse
Shut between two shafts
And unable even to look sideways.
Its whole life is walking.

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And a man? Isn’t a man sad?
If he lives in solitude a long time,
If he believes time has run its course,
A man is a sad thing too.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features New York AL at Atlanta, starts at 19:35 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 adjustments here and here.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Jake Arrieta	CHN	9	5	4	3	2	PHI	Adam Morgan	17:05
Kyle Hendricks	CHN	7	5	4	3	4	PHI	Alec Asher*	TBD
Danny Duffy	KC	3	4	4	4	2	BAL	Mike Wright	19:05
Jimmy Nelson	MIL	5	4	5	6	6	PIT	Charlie Morton	19:05
David Price	TOR	8	10	10	10	9	NYA	Luis Severino	19:05
Wade Miley	BOS	5	4	5	4	10	TB	Chris Archer	19:10
Justin Verlander	DET	4	4	5	5	5	CLE	Cody Anderson	19:10
John Lackey	STL	5	6	5	4	4	CIN	Michael Lorenzen	19:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	6	4	4	4	5	MIA	Jarred Cosart	19:10
Steven Matz	NYN	8	4	4	3	3	ATL	Matthew Wisler	19:35
Jesse Chavez	OAK	5	4	5	8	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Ervin Santana	MIN	5	7	5	4	5	CHA	Erik Johnson*	20:10
Alex Wood	LAN	5	4	4	4	5	AZ	Robbie Ray	21:40
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	9	8	6	5	2	LAA	Jered Weaver	22:05
Chad Bettis	COL	5	4	5	4	7	SEA	Hisashi Iwakuma	22:10
And. Cashner	SD	7	4	4	4	2	SF	Jake Peavy	22:15

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

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10 years ago

Why not simplify the ratings? How about a 0-2 scale for each team and pitcher. A zero for a team or pitcher would indicate no interest whatsoever (think the Milwuakee Brewers). A one would indicate a team or pitcher that has the potential to be interesting, whose value to the viewer could either be amplified or attenuated by the opposing team/pitcher (perhaps the Angels would qualify as a good 1 team, Nathan Eovaldi as a good 1 pitcher). Two would indicate a must-watch pitcher/team (Clayton Kershaw against the Blue Jays would be awesome). I don’t know how you could scale your current system to this 0-2 system, but I’d imagine that the percentage of 0’s 1’s and 2’s breaks down like 25%-65%-10%, give or take a few. Just an idea, what people find as interesting or must-watch varies.

-1

Ricky Fohrenbach

Reply to JP

Don’t be such a nerd about the NERD scores.