NERD Game Scores for Thursday, August 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
San Francisco at Pittsburgh | 19:05 ET
Peavy (56.0 IP, 115 xFIP-) vs. Morton (88.2 IP, 100 xFIP-)
It’s a truth as old as Abe Vigoda: what the braying masses most want to observe is a pair of contestants, compelled by force or profit, to compete in a game with real consequences for both the winner and loser. What one finds in the Giants and Pirates is the baseball clubs whose wins and losses currently hold the greatest consequence. Regard, below: a table featuring the five teams whose odds of reaching the divisional series* are closest to 50% — which is to say, furthest from certainty. DIV% denotes current divisional-series odds; DIFF, the absolute value (in percentage points) from 50%.

The viewer is invited to examine the faces of each player for the presence of Shuddering Desperation — an expression which resembles the sort one might also wear after eating a burrito made with spoiled sour cream.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

*By the season-to-date stats method, which seems to best reflect how the human brain perceives the drama of playoff contention.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same San Francisco and Pittsburgh clubs cited above, 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
Josh Tomlin*	CLE	6	4	5	8	2	NYA	Ivan Nova	19:05
Tyler Duffey*	MIN	5	2	5	8	3	BAL	Miguel Gonzalez	19:05
Jake Peavy	SF	2	10	7	9	6	PIT	Charlie Morton	19:05
Martin Perez	TEX	6	5	4	3	2	DET	Alfredo Simon	19:08
Patrick Corbin	AZ	8	4	5	3	6	CIN	John Lamb*	19:10
Danny Duffy	KC	2	3	3	3	4	BOS	Wade Miley	19:10
Jerome Williams	PHI	5	2	4	4	4	MIA	Brad Hand	19:10
Mike Foltynewicz	ATL	7	2	6	8	8	CHN	Jake Arrieta	20:05
Chris Archer	TB	10	3	6	8	5	HOU	Collin McHugh	20:10
Max Scherzer	WAS	10	8	6	3	5	COL	Yohan Flande	20:40
Jose Quintana	CHA	6	2	6	8	7	LAA	Nick Tropeano	20:05

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