NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, September 22, 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
New York AL at Toronto | 19:07 ET
Severino (43.1 IP, 92 xFIP-) vs. Estrada (160.1 IP, 123 xFIP-)
By the methodology typically employed by the author to produce these dumb NERD scores, tonight’s Yankees-Blue Jays game is not the most highly rated. That largely fictional distinction belongs to the Angels-Astros encounter in Houston. And, indeed, that game could very possibly offer a relentless barrage of thrill and delight. One variable omitted from the haphazardly derived algorithm, however — and perhaps especially relevant during the postseason stretch drive — is the influence of the crowd on the game-as-spectacle. For while fan involvement during last night’s Houston game was relatively subdued, that was very much the opposite case in Toronto. Indeed, the numbers support that observation.

Attendance Relative to Capacity, 9/21/2015

Game	Stadium	Capacity	Attendance	% of Capacity
NYA @ TOR	Rogers Centre	54,000*	47,648	88.2%
LAA @ HOU	Minute Maid Park	41,574	25,318	60.9%

SOURCE: Baseball Reference

The Rogers Centre, which is capable of holding about 12,000 more people than Minute Maid Park, was also nearly 30 percentage points closer to capacity last night. The result: a greater sense of urgency for the observer. Reason dictates that tonight’s games will offer a similar set of conditions.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

*As multiple concerned internet citizens note, Rogers Centre capacity has actually decreased in recent years. The website for the venue itself now reports capacities of 47,000-49,000.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Pittsburgh at Colorado, starts at 20:40 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
Ubaldo Jimenez	BAL	6	4	5	5	6	WAS	Gio Gonzalez	19:05
Luis Severino	NYA	9	6	6	6	2	TOR	Marco Estrada	19:07
Jose Quintana	CHA	6	4	4	4	4	DET	Daniel Norris	19:08
Matthew Wisler	ATL	3	4	4	4	8	NYN	Logan Verrett	19:10
Undecided*	PHI	5	4	4	4	3	MIA	Tom Koehler	19:10
Matt Moore	TB	3	4	4	4	3	BOS	Henry Owens	19:10
Undecided*	MIL	5	4	5	5	9	CHN	Jake Arrieta	20:05
Danny Salazar	CLE	10	5	6	5	4	MIN	Ervin Santana	20:10
Hector Santiago	LAA	2	5	7	10	8	HOU	Lance McCullers	20:10
Hisashi Iwakuma	SEA	8	4	4	4	2	KC	Jeremy Guthrie	20:10
Keyvius Sampson	CIN	3	4	5	6	5	STL	John Lackey	20:15
J.A. Happ	PIT	5	6	5	4	5	COL	Chris Rusin	20:40
Martin Perez	TEX	6	10	6	4	0	OAK	Sean Nolin	22:05
Robbie Ray	AZ	5	5	5	4	5	LAN	Alex Wood	22:10
Chris Heston	SF	4	4	5	4	8	SD	Tyson Ross	22:10

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