NERD Game Scores for Thursday, September 11, 2014

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 at Chicago AL | 14:10 ET
Scott Kazmir (165.2 IP, 73 xFIP-, 4.9 WAR) faces Chris Sale (155.0 IP, 73 xFIP-, 4.9 WAR). A month ago, it seemed nearly a foregone conclusion that the A’s would finish the season having not only won the AL West, but also having recorded the league’s highest win total by an impressive margin. Regard, by way of illustration, the following table, which features the top-five clubs by expected wins as of August 10th:

Now regard, as evidence of Oakland’s difficulties over the past month, this second table — which features the top-five clubs by expected wins as of this morning:

One notes that, over that same month-long interval during which Anaheim a record of 22-6, Oakland went only 9-19 in terms of wins and losses. As of this morning, no club features odds of reaching the divisional series (i.e. the real playoffs) closer to 50% than the A’s.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Corey Kluber Continued Excellence Watch
Famous Cleveland right-hander Corey Kluber, tied with Felix Hernandez atop the American League WAR pitching leaderboard, makes his 31st start of the season just after noon today.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Minnesota at Cleveland, starts at 12:10 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 changes here, if you’re the sort of person accustomed to making poor life decisions.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Kyle Gibson	MIN	5	4	5	4	10	CLE	Corey Kluber	12:05
Ricky Nolasco	MIN	5	4	5	4	10	CLE	T.J. House	TBD
Lance Lynn	STL	5	4	4	3	8	CIN	Johnny Cueto	12:35
Scott Kazmir	OAK	7	10	7	3	10	CHA	Chris Sale	14:10
Rand. Delgado*	AZ	6	3	6	10	4	SF	Jake Peavy	15:45
Fran’sco Liriano	PIT	9	10	7	3	5	PHI	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Alex Cobb	TB	8	4	5	3	9	NYA	Michael Pineda	19:05
Tanner Roark	WAS	6	4	4	3	7	NYN	Bartolo Colon	19:10
Cory Rasmus*	LAA	5	4	3	3	1	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Clay Buchholz	BOS	5	3	6	10	5	KC	Liam Hendriks	20:10
Nathan Eovaldi	MIA	10	4	6	5	9	MIL	Mike Fiers	20:10

To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.