NERD Game Scores for Saturday, October 3, 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
Los Angeles at Texas | 13:05 ET
Santiago (176.2 IP, 124 xFIP-) vs. Lewis (200.2 IP, 115 xFIP-)
Because of the proximity of the season’s end, today’s game NERD scores are informed almost entirely now by the team NERD scores one finds below, which themselves are informed (again, owing to this time of year) almost entirely by the proximity of each club’s postseason odds to 50% (where closer to 50% is better). As a result, only three clubs — all of them members of the American League’s westernmost division — differentiate themselves in any way. And, indeed, even the Rangers’ slight advantage is negated by rounding. The matchup between Max Scherzer and Matt Harvey leads one to ask a philosophical question of sorts: “Would you prefer to observe two excellent pitchers in a meaningless game, or two lesser ones in a game of some consequence?” The answer is one of personal taste — and like all personal thoughts, ought best be hidden deep inside of you lest it’s trampled by a cruel, indifferent world.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game is every game, again, all of which 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
Ivan Nova	NYA	3	5	5	5	6	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	12:05
Luis Severino	NYA	8	5	5	5	5	BAL	Ubaldo Jimenez	19:05
Yordano Ventura	KC	9	5	5	5	3	MIN	Tommy Milone	13:05
Hector Santiago	LAA	2	7	6	5	3	TEX	Colby Lewis	13:05
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	7	5	5	5	10	NYN	No. Syndergaard	13:10
Max Scherzer	WAS	10	5	5	5	10	NYN	Matt Harvey	19:10
Chris Rusin	COL	4	5	5	5	2	SF	Jake Peavy	16:05
Tom Koehler	MIA	3	5	5	5	1	PHI	Aaron Harang	16:05
Justin Nicolino	MIA	1	5	5	5	2	PHI	Alec Asher	TBD
Marco Estrada	TOR	2	5	5	5	10	TB	Chris Archer	18:10
Bran. Finnegan	CIN	5	5	5	5	5	PIT	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Craig Breslow*	BOS	6	5	5	5	10	CLE	Corey Kluber	19:10
Kyle Hendricks	CHN	8	5	5	5	4	MIL	Tyler Wagner*	19:10
Justin Verlander	DET	4	5	5	5	2	CHA	Erik Johnson	19:10
John Lackey	STL	6	5	5	5	7	ATL	Shelby Miller	19:10
Collin McHugh	HOU	5	7	6	5	3	AZ	Jer. Hellickson	20:10
Sean Nolin	OAK	0	5	5	5	5	SEA	Roenis Elias	21:10
Robbie Erlin	SD	7	5	5	5	7	LAN	Zack Greinke	21:10

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