NERD Game Scores for Friday, September 5, 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
San Francisco at Detroit | 19:08 ET
Jake Peavy (171.1 IP, 111 xFIP-, 1.5 WAR) faces Rick Porcello (180.0 IP, 96 xFIP-, 3.0 WAR). Insofar as the two clubs here belong neither to the same division nor even the same actual league, one might suppose that the sense of urgency produced by this match is necessarily low-ish. What the numbers reveal, however, are two clubs among four total in the majors whose odds of reaching the divisional series remain within 20 points of 50%. To that end, then, really every match in which either is included offers much in the way of urgency. A more promising state of affairs, that, than for those of us who governed by the alternating forces of fear and depraved self-interest.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Televiion.

A Lone, Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Seattle at Texas, starts at 8:05pm 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
Vance Worley	PIT	5	7	5	4	4	CHN	Tsuyoshi Wada	14:20
Chris Sale	CHA	10	3	5	4	9	CLE	T.J. House	19:05
James Shields	KC	6	10	7	4	8	NYA	Michael Pineda	19:05
J’ome Williams	PHI	2	3	4	4	10	WAS	St. Strasburg	19:05
Jake Peavy	SF	3	10	8	9	6	DET	Rick Porcello	19:08
Aaron Harang	ATL	3	7	5	4	4	MIA	Jarred Cosart	19:10
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	6	4	5	4	7	TB	Alex Cobb	19:10
Bartolo Colon	NYN	6	3	4	3	5	CIN	Alfredo Simon	19:10
Drew Hutchison	TOR	6	4	3	3	0	BOS	Allen Webster	19:10
Hisashi Iwakuma	SEA	8	7	5	3	0	TEX	Scott Baker	20:05
Matt Shoemaker	LAA	8	5	5	4	4	MIN	Ricky Nolasco	20:10
John Lackey	STL	7	4	6	7	9	MIL	Mike Fiers	20:10
Eric Stults	SD	4	3	4	4	5	COL	Tyler Matzek	20:40
Br. Oberholtzer	HOU	4	4	7	10	8	OAK	Jeff Samardzija	22:05
Vidal Nuno	AZ	5	3	4	5	5	LAN	Dan Haren	22:10

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