NERD Game Scores for June 15, 2017

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather 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.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
New York AL at Oakland | 22:05 ET
Montgomery (63.1 IP, 104 xFIP-) vs. Gray (47.1 IP, 73 xFIP-)
Oakland starter Sonny Gray throws either one or four or endless different sorts of breaking ball, Eno Sarris revealed in a post published this morning at the site. Among those infinite variations is this specific one, a pitch that travels at 94 mph and features slider-type break:

According to Gray himself, the movement here is a product of just a small alteration to his four-seam-fastball grip, which isn’t typically how human people are capable of producing such movement. At the margins of what is possible, is where Sonny Gray is located — at least so far as this one physical act is concerned.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Washington at New York NL, starts at 19:10 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and also sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and the rest of the internet. Note that calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.