NERD Game Scores for Thursday, September 10, 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
Toronto at New York AL | 19:05 ET
Price (196.1 IP, 83 xFIP-) vs. Severino (35.1 IP, 94 xFIP-)
Owing to how he’s afflicted by indolence and riddled with lethargy, the author hasn’t attempted to record such a thing. It appears, however, that tonight’s Blue Jays-Yankees game is the first encounter of the season in receipt of a perfect NERD score — NERD being the fake acronym applied by a younger version of the author to the flawed algorithm used to determine a baseball game’s aesthetic appeal. The reason for this game’s appeal, mostly: the respective proximities of each club both to the top of their division and also to each other. And secondly, too: the respective talents of Toronto left-hander David Price and New York right-hander Luis Severino.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio?
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Colorado at San Diego, starts at 15:40 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jorge de la Rosa | COL | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | SD | Tyson Ross | 15:40 |
| Derek Holland | TEX | 7 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 8 | SEA | Felix Hernandez | 15:40 |
| Jake Arrieta | CHN | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | PHI | Adam Morgan | 19:05 |
| Wily Peralta | MIL | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | PIT | A.J. Burnett | 19:05 |
| David Price | TOR | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | NYA | Luis Severino | 19:05 |
| Alfredo Simon | DET | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 10 | CLE | Danny Salazar | 19:10 |
| Bartolo Colon | NYN | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | ATL | Shelby Miller | 19:10 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | CIN | John Lamb | 19:10 |
* = 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.
How are the Cubs only a 4 for Team Nerd Score? I can see why the game is such a low score, but with their dynamic young they should be at least equal to the Cards and Pirates at a 6. Also, how are the Rangers a 9 in that category?
At this point, most of the team scores are informed almost entirely by playoff uncertainty. So that’s what the Blue Jays and Yankees have the top scores — and why the Astros and Rangers are just behind them.