NERD Game Scores for Monday, August 25, 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
St. Louis at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET
John Lackey (162.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 2.5 WAR) faces Francisco Liriano (118.1 IP, 92 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR). After taking two of three from Milwaukee, Pittsburgh’s odds of qualifying for the divisional series increased from about 14% on Friday morning to 21% as of this one (i.e. this morning) — in part because of the Pirates’ own victories, in part because of the Cardinals’ difficulties with Philadelphia. Today those two NL Central clubs face each other, is the point. One will leave the field pleased with the result; the other, disappointed. Which is different than life, insofar as everyone leaves it disappointed with the result.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: St. Louis Radio.

A Lone, Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Oakland at Houston, starts at 8:10pm 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
John Lackey	STL	7	8	8	7	8	PIT	Francisco Liriano	19:05
Jake Odorizzi	TB	7	4	5	6	3	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Tanner Roark	WAS	5	4	4	3	3	PHI	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Clay Buchholz	BOS	3	3	4	4	4	TOR	J.A. Happ	19:07
Michael Pineda	NYA	7	4	7	9	6	KC	James Shields	19:10
Jeff Samardzija	OAK	7	8	5	4	1	HOU	Scott Feldman	20:10
Jarred Cosart	MIA	3	4	5	7	5	LAA	Wade LeBlanc*	22:05
Kyle Lohse	MIL	4	9	5	3	4	SD	Eric Stults	22:10
Miles Mikolas	TEX	3	3	5	7	5	SEA	Roenis Elias	22:10
Tyler Matzek	COL	4	4	5	8	3	SF	Jake Peavy	22:15

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