NERD Game Scores for Saturday, August 23, 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
Pittsburgh at Milwaukee | 19:10 ET
Edinson Volquez (146.0 IP, 115 xFIP-, 0.2 WAR) faces Wily Peralta (157.0 IP, 98 xFIP-, 1.0 WAR). While at least two of the clubs involved would disagree, the best sort of thing that can happen at the moment in the NL Central — to the end of Maximum Pleasure, that is — is what happened last night, on which night Pittsburgh defeated Milwaukee while St. Louis also lost.
Regard, the effect on the odds of qualifying for the divisional series for each of the three relevant clubs before and after Friday’s games (in order of current place in division):
| # | Team | Before | After | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brewers | 59.7% | 59.6% | -0.1% |
| 2 | Cardinals | 68.7% | 65.0% | -3.7% |
| 3 | Pirates | 13.9% | 19.6% | +5.7% |
After entering the day 55 points behind the Cardinals, the Pirates exited it (i.e. that same day) trailing by only about 45 points.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.
One Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Houston at Cleveland, starts at 7:05pm 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Carroll | CHA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | NYA | Hiroki Kuroda | 13:05 |
| Jeremy Hellickson | TB | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | TOR | Mark Buehrle | 13:07 |
| Buck Farmer* | DET | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 5 | MIN | Yohan Pino | 13:10 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | 3 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 3 | MIN | Trevor May* | 20:10 |
| Chris Young | SEA | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | BOS | Brand’n Workman | 13:35 |
| Bud Norris | BAL | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | CHN | Kyle Hendricks | 14:20 |
| Tim Lincecum | SF | 6 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 9 | WAS | Jor. Zimmermann | 16:05 |
| Collin McHugh | HOU | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | CLE | Danny Salazar | 19:05 |
| Shelby Miller | STL | 3 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 5 | PHI | David Buchanan | 19:05 |
| Ervin Santana | ATL | 8 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | CIN | Mike Leake | 19:10 |
| Edinson Volquez | PIT | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | MIL | Wily Peralta | 19:10 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | KC | 3 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | TEX | Nick Tepesch | 20:05 |
| Tom Koehler | MIA | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | COL | Jordan Lyles | 20:10 |
| Andrew Cashner | SD | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | AZ | Vidal Nuno | 20:10 |
| C.J. Wilson | LAA | 4 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | OAK | Jon Lester | 21:05 |
| Jacob deGrom | NYN | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | LAN | Zack Greinke | 21:10 |
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I don’t think NERD scores account for schadenfreude, because if they did, they would recommend you watch the Tigers try to play a doubleheader today after using their entire bullpen yesterday.
All except for Nathan. Went with Romine over him. There’s your schadenfreude.