NERD Game Scores for Monday, September 28, 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
Houston at Seattle | 22:10 ET
McCullers (114.2 IP, 88 xFIP-) vs. Elias (107.1 IP, 106 xFIP-)
There are probably reasons to continue following the outcomes of National League games over this final week of the season, but nearly zero of them concern the influence of those same games on what might be called the “postseason landscape.” Indeed, so far as postseason landscapes are concerned, the American League has developed a monopoly on them. The Western division, in particular, is not unlike a mountain road populated almost exclusively by scenic vistas of postseason landscapes.

Regard, the current playoff odds of the three relevant clubs, rendered into a handsome table:

The American League West, Currently

	Team	W	L	GB	EXPW	EXPL	DIV	WC	POFF
1	Rangers	84	71	0.0	87.5	74.5	81.4%	12.7%	94.1%
2	Astros	82	74	2.5	85.4	76.6	8.9%	56.6%	65.5%
3	Angels	81	74	3.0	84.7	77.3	9.7%	25.0%	34.7%

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Television.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features St. Louis at Pittsburgh, starts at 19:05 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 adjustments here and here.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Brand. Finnegan	CIN	10	4	6	5	10	WAS	Max Scherzer	15:05
Ed. Rodriguez	BOS	7	4	5	5	2	NYA	Ivan Nova	19:05
Lance Lynn	STL	4	6	6	6	6	PIT	J.A. Happ	19:05
Marco Estrada	TOR	2	5	4	4	3	BAL	Chris Tillman	19:05
Phil Hughes	MIN	4	5	6	5	10	CLE	Corey Kluber	19:10
Justin Verlander	DET	4	4	5	7	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	20:05
Yordano Ventura	KC	9	4	6	5	8	CHN	Kyle Hendricks	20:05
Felix Doubront	OAK	4	4	5	8	2	LAA	Hector Santiago	22:05
Lance McCullers	HOU	8	10	7	4	5	SEA	Roenis Elias	22:10
Zack Greinke	LAN	7	5	5	5	2	SF	Jake Peavy	22:15

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