NERD Game Scores for Monday, June 15, 2015

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
Cleveland at Chicago NL | 20:05 ET
Bauer (74.0, 107 xFIP-) vs. Arrieta (77.0 IP, 69 xFIP-)
Chicago and Cleveland, between them, have debuted four noteworthy young players this season — of which three are famous and one is less famous. Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Francisco Lindor were ranked 1st, 3rd, and 14th, respectively, among all prospects by Kiley McDaniel this offseason. The former two have produced roughly four wins in roughly 400 plate appearances for the Cubs; Lindor, for his part, recorded his first major-league appearance this past weekend. Omitted from McDaniel’s preseason top-200 list (as well as every other preseason-type of list), but noteworthy nonetheless, is third baseman Giovanny Urshela. The 23-year-old Urshela lacks the tools of the three aforementioned players, but has exhibited average power and above-average contact skills as a minor leaguer — in addition to possessing a strong defensive reputation. He’s probably not the reason one ought to watch this game between the Cubs and Indians tonight. That said, in the event that one is consuming this game among a crowd of friends or even awkward acquaintances, one is now equipped to bore his companions with certain passing comments about Giovanny Urshela.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Chicago Television.

Two Brief Notes
Still Image: Francisco Lindor Accuses Miguel Cabrera
Cleveland shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor recorded his major-league debut on Sunday. In the still image below, following his first career hit, one finds him either (a) playfully blaming Miguel Cabrera of having tripped him while rounding first, or (b) accusing Cabrera for the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Los Angeles NL at Texas, starts at 20:05 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
Carlos Rodon	CHA	6	0	6	7	9	PIT	Francisco Liriano	19:05
Aaron Harang	PHI	3	1	3	5	4	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
Jon Moscot	CIN	0	5	4	5	6	DET	Anibal Sanchez	19:08
Williams Perez	ATL	4	2	4	4	5	BOS	Rick Porcello	19:10
M.o Tanaka	NYA	7	7	5	6	2	MIA	Tom Koehler	19:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	3	8	7	5	10	NYN	N. Syndergaard	19:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	7	6	6	5	6	TB	Erasmo Ramirez	19:10
Trevor Bauer	CLE	5	8	7	7	9	CHN	Jake Arrieta	20:05
Carlos Frias	LAN	7	6	5	4	3	TEX	Yovani Gallardo	20:05
Chad Bettis	COL	6	3	7	10	7	HOU	Dallas Keuchel	20:10
Ed. Volquez	KC	4	7	5	3	5	MIL	Kyle Lohse	20:10
Trevor May	MIN	7	2	4	4	4	STL	John Lackey	20:15
Robbie Ray	AZ	6	5	5	8	3	LAA	Jered Weaver	22:05
Jesse Hahn	OAK	5	4	5	3	8	SD	Tyson Ross	22:10
Taijuan Walker	SEA	8	4	5	5	4	SF	Tim Hudson	22:15

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