NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, September 16, 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
Houston at Texas | 20:05 ET
Keuchel (206.2 IP, 67 xFIP-) vs. Perez (54.2 IP, 102 xFIP-)
There are arguments you could make, probably, in support of watching a different game tonight besides this one between Houston and Texas, but all of them are likely to get you laughed off the playground. And getting laughed off the playground as a 35-year-old — and actually you weren’t even playing or anything, you were just walking back from the store, okay, so shut up Keenan — is an indignity few should suffer. In either case, following their victory yesterday, the Rangers now lead the division by half a game. But also, despite that lead, the Astros are sill slight favorites to win the division according to this playoff graph available now at the site:
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Toronto at Atlanta, starts at 19:10 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 adjustments here and here.
| Away | SP | Tm. | Gm. | Tm. | SP | Home | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Owens | BOS | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | BAL | Mike Wright | 19:05 |
| Jake Arrieta | CHN | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | PIT | A.J. Burnett | 19:05 |
| Gio Gonzalez | WAS | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | PHI | Alec Asher | 19:05 |
| Danny Duffy | KC | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 10 | CLE | Danny Salazar | 19:10 |
| Adam Conley | MIA | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | NYN | Bartolo Colon | 19:10 |
| Luis Severino | NYA | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 10 | TB | Chris Archer | 19:10 |
| David Price | TOR | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | ATL | Shelby Miller | 19:10 |
| Dallas Keuchel | HOU | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 6 | TEX | Martin Perez | 20:05 |
| Daniel Norris | DET | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | MIN | Ervin Santana | 20:10 |
| Cody Martin* | OAK | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | CHA | Erik Johnson | 20:10 |
| Jaime Garcia | STL | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | MIL | Wily Peralta | 20:10 |
| Andrew Cashner | SD | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | AZ | Robbie Ray | 21:40 |
| Jorge de la Rosa | COL | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | LAN | Alex Wood | 22:10 |
| Jered Weaver | LAA | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | SEA | Hisashi Iwakuma | 22:10 |
| Michael Lorenzen | CIN | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | SF | Jake Peavy | 22:15 |
* = 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.