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.

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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.