NERD Game Scores for Friday, September 18, 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
New York AL at New York NL | 19:10 ET
Tanaka (143.0 IP, 81 xFIP-) vs. Matz (24.0 IP, 103 xFIP-)
None of today’s games — nor likely the larger series of which their part — feature the sort of consequences offered by either the recent Houston-Texas series nor the New York-Toronto one just before that. What this encounter does represent, however, is an opportunity to observe both a Yankees club not statistically eliminated from winning the division and also young Mets left-hander Steven Matz. The latter is scheduled to record just his fifth major-league start tonight. Over the first four starts, he’s produced an average fastball of 94.5 mph — the highest such mark (tied with Chris Sale) among all left-handed starters this entire season. In few instances does a young pitcher suffer from being mentioned in the same sentence as Chris Sale. Unless, that is, it were an instance like “Chris Sale informed Steven Matz that the latter would be the subject of an audit by the IRS.” Why Chris Sale would be serving as an intermediary for a government agency, this is unclear. That it would be unpleasant for Matz, this is obvious.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL Television.

Two Brief Notes
AL West Division-Winner Odds: Before and After
Yesterday’s edition of this same dispatch contained a table illustrating the baleful effects of the Houston-Texas series on that former club — and the beneficial effects of the series on the latter one. What follows is an updated version of that table, accounting for the Rangers’ Thursday night victory, as well.

AL West Division Odds, 2015

Club	Before Series	Now	Difference
Texas	22.0%	69.5%	+47.5%
Houston	73.7%	26.5%	-47.2%

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Kansas City at Detroit, starts at 19:08 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
Lance Lynn	STL	4	5	4	5	2	CHN	Dan Haren	14:20
Jose Fernandez	MIA	10	4	6	5	10	WAS	Max Scherzer	19:05
Rick Porcello	BOS	6	4	6	7	9	TOR	Marcus Stroman*	19:07
Johnny Cueto	KC	7	4	4	4	4	DET	Justin Verlander	19:08
Tyler Wilson	BAL	2	5	5	4	9	TB	Drew Smyly	19:10
Chris Sale	CHA	10	4	5	5	5	CLE	Cody Anderson	19:10
Masa. Tanaka	NYA	8	7	6	4	7	NYN	Steven Matz	19:10
Adam Morgan	PHI	2	4	3	4	2	ATL	Williams Perez	19:35
James Paxton	SEA	5	4	5	8	2	TEX	Yovani Gallardo	20:05
Bran. Finnegan*	CIN	9	4	5	4	6	MIL	Zach Davies	20:10
Andrew Heaney	LAA	5	6	5	6	3	MIN	Mike Pelfrey	20:10
Felix Doubront	OAK	5	4	6	10	4	HOU	Mike Fiers	20:10
Ian Kennedy	SD	6	4	4	4	5	COL	Chad Bettis	20:40
Jeff Locke	PIT	6	5	5	4	7	LAN	Zack Greinke	22:10
Ru. de la Rosa	AZ	7	5	6	4	10	SF	Ma.n Bumgarner	22:15

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