NERD Game Scores for Wednesday, September 30, 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
Oakland at Los Angeles AL | 19:05 ET
Zito (3.0 IP, 238 xFIP-) vs. Richards (195.1 IP, 95 xFIP-)
It is not particularly helpful to suggest that — for a club such as the Angels, who find themselves within two games on each side either of winning the AL West or failing to qualify at all for the postseason — it’s not so helpful to suggest that every victory is meaningful. Perhaps more enlightening, however, is to observe that, among all the clubs playing today, the Angels possess the highest projected probability of winning as calculated by the methodology used at the site (and ignoring precise lineup decisions, because the information is unavailable).
Regard, that same statement rendered — with difficulties — into the form of a table:
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Oakland Radio.
Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Houston at Seattle, starts at 22:10 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Wacha | STL | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | PIT | Gerrit Cole | 13:35 |
| Tyler Lyons | STL | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | PIT | Charlie Morton | 19:05 |
| Marcus Stroman | TOR | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | BAL | Miguel Gonzalez | 16:05 |
| R.A. Dickey | TOR | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | BAL | Kevin Gausman | TBD |
| Kyle Gibson | MIN | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | CLE | Carlos Carrasco | 16:10 |
| Mike Pelfrey | MIN | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | CLE | Cody Anderson | TBD |
| Wade Miley | BOS | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | NYA | Masahiro Tanaka | 19:05 |
| Logan Verrett | NYN | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | PHI | Alec Asher | 19:05 |
| Barry Zito* | OAK | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 7 | LAA | Garrett Richards | 19:05 |
| Jon Lester | CHN | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | CIN | Ant. DeSclafani | 19:10 |
| Jarred Cosart | MIA | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | TB | Drew Smyly | 19:10 |
| Jo. Zimmermann | WAS | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | ATL | Williams Perez | 19:10 |
| Matt Boyd | DET | 3 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 2 | TEX | Yovani Gallardo | 20:05 |
| Edinson Volquez | KC | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | CHA | Jose Quintana | 20:10 |
| Chad Bettis | COL | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | AZ | Chase Anderson | 21:40 |
| Scott Kazmir | HOU | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | SEA | Undecided | 22:10 |
| Zachary Davies | MIL | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | SD | Andrew Cashner | 22:10 |
| Mike Bolsinger | LAN | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | SF | Mike Leake | 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.
That Wacha-Cole matchup in Pittsburgh looks pretty neat.
agreed, too bad the Pirates record setting performance Monday night (16LOB, 4 bases loaded, 44 plate appearances without scoring 1 run) drained all the juice from it.