NERD Game Scores for Tuesday, September 23, 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
Kansas City at Cleveland | 19:05 ET
Yordano Ventura (172.0 IP, 99 xFIP-, 2.7 WAR) faces Danny Salazar (105.1 IP, 90 xFIP-, 1.6 WAR). Were the members of Cleveland’s 40-man roster to choose collectively a song that might best encapsulate the spirit they must necessarily adopt as a group in their attempt to qualify for the playoffs despite limited odds of doing so, “Livin’ on a Prayer” from Bon Jovi’s 1986 album Slippery When Wet would represent a reasonable option. Which odds are lower, though, one might ask: Cleveland’s actual chances of qualifying for those playoffs, or the probability that tonight’s starter Danny Salazar, born four years later in Santo Domingo, is familiar at all with that song? In either case, it’s both (a) tough and (b) so tough.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

Lone, Brief Note

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Pittsburgh at Atlanta, starts at 7:10pm 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
Ubaldo Jimenez	BAL	3	4	5	4	10	NYA	Bran. McCarthy	19:05
Yordano Ventura	KC	10	10	8	4	10	CLE	Danny Salazar	19:05
Bartolo Colon	NYN	7	4	5	4	6	WAS	Tanner Roark	19:05
Felix Hernandez	SEA	10	4	6	4	10	TOR	R.A. Dickey	19:07
Scott Carroll	CHA	2	3	5	6	10	DET	David Price	19:08
Mike Fiers	MIL	8	4	5	3	8	CIN	Johnny Cueto	19:10
Cole Hamels	PHI	9	4	5	4	8	MIA	Hen’son Alvarez	19:10
Gerrit Cole	PIT	10	10	8	4	9	ATL	Alex Wood	19:10
Alex Cobb	TB	8	4	5	4	5	BOS	Clay Buchholz	19:10
Brett O’holtzer	HOU	5	4	4	4	0	TEX	Nick Martinez	20:05
Shelby Miller	STL	5	4	4	4	6	CHN	Kyle Hendricks	20:05
Andrew Chafin*	AZ	4	4	4	4	5	MIN	Kyle Gibson	20:10
Wade LeBlanc*	LAA	5	4	7	10	7	OAK	Sonny Gray	22:05
Jorge de la Rosa	COL	4	4	5	4	9	SD	Robbie Erlin	22:10
Ma’son Bum’r	SF	10	10	8	4	9	LAN	Zack Greinke	22:10

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