NERD Game Scores for Sunday, October 4, 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 AL (Richards) at Texas (Hamels) | 15:05 ET
Houston (McCullers) at Arizona (Ray) | 15:10 ET
Three clubs enter the season’s final day with uncertain prospects regarding their postseason lot. A Rangers victory would both (a) secure their place atop the American League’s westernmost division and also (b) eliminate the Angels at the same time, automatically granting the second wild-card spot to the Astros. A Rangers loss, meanwhile, would engender disorder not unlike the sort found during France’s Reign of Terror. How many noblemen and -women will be executed? Only time will tell. And furthermore, as Ben Lerner has observed, only time will tell if time will tell.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio and Houston Television.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game is actually every game, almost all of which start at ca. 13:00 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lance Lynn | STL | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | ATL | Matthew Wisler | 13:00 |
| John Lackey | STL | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | ATL | Shelby Miller | TBD |
| Josh Smith | CIN | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | PIT | J.A. Happ | 15:05 |
| Chris. Bergman | COL | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | SF | Matt Cain | 15:05 |
| Garrett Richards | LAA | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | TEX | Cole Hamels | 15:05 |
| Adam Conley | MIA | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | PHI | David Buchanan | 15:05 |
| Michael Pineda | NYA | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | BAL | Chris Tillman | 15:05 |
| Rick Porcello | BOS | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | CLE | Danny Salazar | 15:10 |
| Dan Haren | CHN | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | MIL | Jorge Lopez* | 15:10 |
| Daniel Norris | DET | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | CHA | Francelis Montas* | 15:10 |
| Lance McCullers | HOU | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 5 | AZ | Robbie Ray | 15:10 |
| Johnny Cueto | KC | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | MIN | Ricky Nolasco | 15:10 |
| Chris Bassitt | OAK | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | SEA | Vidal Nuno | 15:10 |
| Frank Garces* | SD | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | LAN | Clayton Kershaw | 15:10 |
| Mark Buehrle | TOR | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | TB | Matt Moore | 15:10 |
| Tanner Roark | WAS | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | NYN | Jacob deGrom | 15:10 |
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
Given reports that this will be the last outing of his career, I’m personally elevating Buehrle’s NERD score to 10 for the day.
And with some uncharacteristically bad defense, that was about the same as the number of unearned runs given up. It was really too bad Buehrle couldn’t get to 200.
Agreed, that may be the most painful 0.2 IP I’ve watched. I was really disappointed it didn’t work out for him.