NERD Game Scores for June 30, 2017

June 30, 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 Houston | 20:10 ET
Pineda (87.1 IP, 79 xFIP-) vs. McCullers (81.2 IP, 60 xFIP-)
One might be inclined to think that, on account of how good Chris Sale has been this year, that he’s certainly recorded the top expected FIP mark (xFIP-) among all qualified pitchers. It’s actually true that he’s done that. It’s also true that so has Lance McCullers, though. Entering play today, both pitchers have produced a park-adjusted xFIP 40% better than league average. Only one of them is expected to pitch tonight, however. McCullers is who.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Minnesota at Kansas City, starts at 20:15 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

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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.

NERD Scores for June 30, 2017

Away		SP	TM	GM	TM	SP		Home	Time
Johnny Cueto	SF	6	2	5	3	8	PIT	Gerrit Cole	19:05
Jacob Faria	TB	9	7	5	4	0	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Doug Fister*	BOS	6	6	6	4	6	TOR	Marco Estrada	19:07
Mike Montgomery	CHN	6	7	6	6	4	CIN	Scott Feldman	19:10
Josh Tomlin	CLE	6	7	5	3	3	DET	Anibal Sanchez	19:10
Ben Lively	PHI	1	3	5	5	10	NYN	Jacob deGrom	19:10
Edinson Volquez	MIA	3	4	4	7	3	MIL	Matt Garza	20:10
Michael Pineda	NYA	9	8	8	5	10	HOU	Lance McCullers	20:10
Austin Bibens-Dirkx	TEX	0	5	2	4	0	CHA	Mike Pelfrey	20:10
Ervin Santana	MIN	3	5	4	3	5	KC	Jason Vargas	20:15
Tanner Roark	WAS	5	6	6	4	7	STL	Mike Leake	20:15
Jon Gray	COL	5	5	7	9	8	AZ	Robbie Ray	21:40
Mike Foltynewicz	ATL	6	2	5	5	8	OAK	Sonny Gray	22:05
Ariel Miranda	SEA	2	3	3	3	3	LAA	Parker Bridwell	22:07
Alex Wood	LAN	10	9	8	5	7	SD	Clayton Richard	22:10

SP denotes pitcher NERD score.
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.

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