NERD Game Scores for Sunday, September 20, 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
Oakland (Brooks) at Houston (McHugh) | 14:10 ET
Seattle (Hernandez) at Texas (Holland) | 15:05 ET
Today’s most highly rated game is a combination of two games, each involving the pair of clubs (Houston, Texas) situated nearest the top of the AL West standings. Logic suggests that the ideal way to consume them would be to watch whichever of the two featured a higher leverage index at the moment. As history reveals, however, logic suggests a number of ideas that, while theoretically sound, fail in practice.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Houston Television and Texas Radio.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Miami and Washington, starts at 13:35 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Hill* | BOS | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | TOR | Mark Buehrle | 13:07 |
| Kris Medlen | KC | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | DET | Alfredo Simon | 13:08 |
| Kevin Gausman | BAL | 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | TB | Jake Odorizzi | 13:10 |
| John Danks | CHA | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | CLE | Josh Tomlin | 13:10 |
| Justin Nicolino | MIA | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | WAS | St. Strasburg | 13:35 |
| Aaron Nola | PHI | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | ATL | Julio Teheran | 13:35 |
| Ant. DeSclafani | CIN | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | MIL | Ariel Pena | 14:10 |
| Matt Shoemaker | LAA | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | MIN | Tyler Duffey | 14:10 |
| Aaron Brooks | OAK | 5 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 5 | HOU | Collin McHugh | 14:10 |
| Carlos Martinez | STL | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | CHN | Jon Lester | 14:10 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | TEX | Derek Holland | 15:05 |
| Jer. Hellickson | AZ | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | SF | Tim Hudson | 16:05 |
| Gerrit Cole | PIT | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | LAN | Mike Bolsinger | 16:10 |
| James Shields | SD | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | COL | Kyle Kendrick | 16:10 |
| CC Sabathia | NYA | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 | NYN | Matt Harvey | 20:08 |
* = 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.