NERD Game Scores for May 16, 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 almost certainly justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
Tampa Bay at Cleveland | 18:10 ET
Odorizzi (31.0 IP, 98 xFIP-) vs. Salazar (36.1 IP, 79 xFIP-)
Boston’s Chris Sale has recorded the top WAR among major-league pitchers by nearly a full win so far this year. Unfortunately, he isn’t pitching tonight. Who is pitching is Danny Salazar. Salazar hasn’t recorded the best or second-best or even fifth-best WAR among major-league pitchers. What he has done, though, is produce a better swinging-strike rate than both (a) Boston’s Chris Sale and also (b) all 95 other qualified pitchers. His changeup is mostly the reason. Salazar has registered a swing and miss on more than a quarter of the changeups he’s thrown this year.

Here are three examples of that changeup from Salazar’s most recent start:

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Tampa Bay Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Philadelphia at Texas, starts at 20:05 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.