NERD Game Scores for Monday, September 7, 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
Baltimore at New York AL | 13:05 ET
Chen (160.2 IP, 101 xFIP-) vs. Pineda (128.1 IP, 70 xFIP-)
In addition to featuring (in the Yankees) one half of the league’s most tightly contested division — and also featuring (in Michael Pineda) the majors’ fifth-best starting pitcher by a non-negligible measure — what this game also represents is an opportunity to observe first-hand the Manny Machado Shortstop Experiment. Or, to observe it four times, at least — which is to say, the approximate number of fielding chances the average major-league shortstop receives per game.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Baltimore Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Texas at Seattle, starts at 20:40 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
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	5	4	7	10	10	NYA	Michael Pineda	13:05
Jon Niese	NYN	5	5	6	6	10	WAS	Max Scherzer	13:05
Drew Smyly	TB	9	4	5	4	3	DET	Randy Wolf	13:08
Zachary Davies*	MIL	6	4	4	4	2	MIA	Justin Nicolino	13:10
Jeff Locke	PIT	6	5	5	4	5	CIN	Ant. DeSclafani	13:10
Mark Buehrle	TOR	5	10	6	4	6	BOS	Rick Porcello	13:35
Trevor Bauer	CLE	6	4	5	4	10	CHA	Chris Sale	14:10
Dan Haren	CHN	3	5	5	5	5	STL	Lance Lynn	14:15
Mike Fiers	HOU	4	8	5	4	4	OAK	Felix Doubront	16:05
Kyle Kendrick	COL	0	4	3	4	5	SD	Ian Kennedy	16:10
Mike Leake	SF	6	4	5	4	9	AZ	Patrick Corbin	16:10
Yovani Gallardo	TEX	2	8	5	4	5	SEA	Roenis Elias	18:40
Williams Perez	ATL	2	3	3	3	2	PHI	Aaron Harang	19:05
Tommy Milone	MIN	4	6	6	4	9	KC	Yordano Ventura	20:10
Zack Greinke	LAN	7	4	5	5	7	LAA	Nick Tropeano	21:05

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