NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, August 6, 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
San Francisco at Milwaukee | 20:10 ET
Ryan Vogelsong (127.2 IP, 104 xFIP-, 1.6 WAR) faces Yovani Gallardo (135.2 IP, 96 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR). Entering play yesterday, the Giants and Brewers featured the first and third least certain postseason futures, respectively. Following the latter club’s 4-3 victory yesterday (box), the situation has changed slightly — insofar, that is, as the Giants and Brewers now feature the first and second least certain postseason futures, respectively. San Francisco now possesses a 48.3% chance of qualifying for the divisional series; Milwaukee, a 39.3% chance — the two figures, those, closest to 50% among the league’s 30 teams.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Basically All of Them.

Two Brief Notes
Lazy MLB Debut Report: Javier Baez
Here’s my video report on Cubs prospect Javier Baez’s major-leaugue debut:

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features San Diego and Minnesota, starts at 1:10pm 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
Odris. Despaigne	SD	0	3	2	3	0	MIN	Kevin Correia	13:10
Nick Tepesch	TEX	2	3	4	3	10	CHA	Chris Sale	14:10
Jer. Hellickson*	TB	4	5	6	6	7	OAK	Sonny Gray	15:35
Julio Teheran	ATL	7	7	5	4	0	SEA	Chris Young	15:40
Justin Verlander	DET	3	4	4	5	5	NYA	Chris Capuano*	19:05
Brad Peacock	HOU	2	4	3	2	4	PHI	David Buchanan	19:05
Tom Koehler	MIA	3	4	6	8	7	PIT	Jeff Locke	19:05
Jon Niese	NYN	5	3	4	5	5	WAS	Doug Fister	19:05
Wei-Yin Chen	BAL	5	7	6	7	6	TOR	Drew Hutchison	19:07
Danny Salazar	CLE	8	5	4	3	2	CIN	Mat Latos	19:10
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	3	10	7	9	4	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	20:10
Joe Kelly	BOS	6	3	5	7	3	STL	Shelby Miller	20:15
Jake Arrieta	CHN	8	4	5	4	4	COL	Jordan Lyles	20:40
Yordano Ventura	KC	10	5	5	3	2	AZ	Josh Collmenter	21:40
Dan Haren	LAN	5	5	7	8	9	LAA	Matt Shoemaker	22:05

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