NERD Game Scores for Saturday, June 18, 2016

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Cincinnati at Houston | 16:10 ET
Reed (MLB Debut) vs. Keuchel (87.2 IP, 81 xFIP-)
There’s not what one might call a “surfeit” of compelling reasons either to have watched or continue watching the Cincinnati Reds this year. They’ve recorded among the league’s worst offensive numbers this season, and the actual worst pitching ones. Their 27-41 record, already poor, is roughly five wins better than their BaseRuns numbers suggest it ought to be. If the Reds have succeed this year, it’s only at reminding the public that life is fleeting; joy, ephemeral.

What this game represents, however, is the major-league debut of left-hander Cody Reed — the sort of player, it seems, who might be partially responsible for that moment when the club returns to adequacy. Reed, who has produced strong numbers this year to complement his above-average arm speed, is well acquitted both by Chris Mitchell’s computer numbers and Eric Longenhagen’s scouting report.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Radio.

Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Los Angeles AL at Oakland, starts at 16:05 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author facilitated a crowdsourcing effort to reproduce the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The updated results for television broadcasts are available by means of this hyperlinked text; for radio, by means of this other 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 calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.

NERD Scores for June 18, 2016

Away		SP	TM	GM	TM	SP		Home	Time
Michael Pineda	NYA	9	4	6	5	6	MIN	Ricky Nolasco	14:10
Zack Greinke	AZ	5	6	5	2	6	PHI	Jerad Eickhoff	15:05
Tim Lincecum*	LAA	10	3	6	4	7	OAK	Andrew Triggs*	16:05
Adrian Sampson*	SEA	6	6	6	8	5	BOS	Rick Porcello	16:05
R.A. Dickey	TOR	8	6	5	7	0	BAL	Yovani Gallardo	16:05
Cody Reed*	CIN	10	3	7	6	7	HOU	Dallas Keuchel	16:10
Tyler Chatwood	COL	4	4	5	5	5	MIA	Wei-Yin Chen	16:10
Albert Suarez	SF	5	5	6	7	6	TB	Matt Moore	16:10
Nick Martinez*	TEX	4	5	6	6	7	STL	Carlos Martinez	16:15
James Shields	CHA	3	3	5	7	7	CLE	Danny Salazar	18:10
Aaron Blair	ATL	0	2	5	6	10	NYN	Steven Matz	20:15
Matt Boyd	DET	6	4	5	5	4	KC	Edinson Volquez	20:15
Jon Niese	PIT	5	5	6	6	7	CHN	Jon Lester	20:15
Chase Anderson	MIL	3	4	4	6	5	LAN	Mike Bolsinger	22:10
Max Scherzer	WAS	10	7	7	5	4	SD	Colin Rea	22:10

SP denotes pitcher NERD score.
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.

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