NERD Game Scores for Thursday, May 26, 2016

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Miami at Tampa Bay | 13:10 ET
Fernandez (53.2 IP, 66 xFIP-) vs. Smyly (56.0 IP, 91 xFIP-)
Having read no fewer than two or maybe one popular-science books on the subject of human cognition, the present author is prepared to state unequivocally that a central feature of the brain is its tireless search for patterns — and tendency to extract meaning from mere coincidence. As a product of those traits, one might reasonably expect the human brain to regard these numbers with some interest:

Jose Fernandez , 2015 vs 2016

Season	GS	TBF	IP	xFIP-	FIP-	ERA-	WAR	WAR200
2015	11	265	64.2	68	60	75	2.1	6.5
2016	9	217	53.2	66	62	75	1.7	6.4

WAR200 denotes WAR prorated to 200 innings.

Those are the the 2015 and 2016 seasons of Jose Fernandez. What one observes are the similarities between certain of the right-hander’s index stats from one season to the next. Nearly identical adjusted xFIP marks, for example. And nearly identical (and lower) adjusted FIP marks. And actually identical (and slightly higher) adjusted ERA marks. Of course, the figures aren’t entirely random; they have, for example, been produced by the same pitcher. Nevertheless, the symmetry of the data is unusual. The brain is stirred! Or, at least: maybe the brain is stirred!

Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game is the same game discussed above. It can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author facilitated a crowdsourcing effort to reproduce the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The results from that effort — for television broadcasts, at least — are available 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 calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.

NERD Scores for May 26, 2016

Away		SP	TM	GM	TM	SP		Home	Time
Patrick Corbin	AZ	4	7	6	5	7	PIT	Gerrit Cole	12:35
Jose Fernandez	MIA	10	6	8	7	7	TB	Drew Smyly	13:10
J.A. Happ	TOR	4	4	3	4	2	NYA	CC Sabathia	16:05
Mike Leake	STL	4	6	5	6	6	WAS	Joe Ross	19:05
Jon Gray	COL	10	3	5	8	0	BOS	Clay Buchholz	19:10
Wily Peralta	MIL	3	5	3	0	4	ATL	Matt Wisler	19:10
Kevin Gausman	BAL	7	6	7	6	9	HOU	Lance McCullers	20:10
Miguel Gonzalez	CHA	2	4	5	4	8	KC	Danny Duffy*	20:15

SP denotes pitcher NERD score.
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.

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