NERD Game Scores: Ft. The Curiously Indomitable Mike Fiers

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
Toronto at Milwaukee | 20:10 ET
J.A. Happ (109.1 IP, 108 xFIP-, 0.9 WAR) faces Mike Fiers (21.0 IP, 74 xFIP-, 0.5 WAR). The latter recorded, in his most recent start, which was also his second major-league start of the season, he recorded 14 strikeouts against just 22 batters (box) — a percentage, that, which would amount to a passing grade in most American high schools and colleges. Unless the college were Hampshire, that is. In the case of Hampshire College, Fiers would have instead received a detailed narrative evaluation. In any case, Fiers et al. currently possess 49% odds of winning the Central and slightly-better-than-that odds of qualifying for the divisional series at all.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Milwaukee Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Promotion Announcement: Mookie Betts
The purpose of this brief is to announce the recall yesterday of Boston infielder/outfielder/wunderkind Mookie Betts back to the majors. Here was Betts’ line during his most recent interval with Triple-A Pawtucket: 105 PA, 9.5% BB, 16.2% K, 3 HR, .347/.410/.558 (.400 BABIP). Here’s at which position he started for the Red Sox on Monday: center field.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Atlanta at Pittsburgh, starts at 7:05pm 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
Chase Anderson	AZ	5	3	5	4	10	WAS	St. Strasburg	19:05
Aaron Harang	ATL	2	7	6	7	8	PIT	Francisco Liriano	19:05
Br. Oberholtzer	HOU	4	4	4	4	6	NYA	Chris Capuano	19:05
Hisashi Iwakuma	SEA	7	6	5	3	3	PHI	A.J. Burnett	19:05
Max Scherzer	DET	8	9	7	4	6	TB	Chris Archer	19:10
Jered Weaver	LAA	2	7	3	3	0	BOS	Allen Webster	19:10
Miles Mikolas	TEX	3	3	4	4	4	MIA	Jarred Cosart	19:10
Ryan Vogelsong	SF	2	8	5	4	5	CHN	Tsuyoshi Wada	20:05
Chris Tillman	BAL	2	5	4	2	6	CHA	Jose Quintana	20:10
Trevor Bauer	CLE	6	4	4	3	4	MIN	Kyle Gibson	20:10
J.A. Happ	TOR	4	4	7	9	11	MIL	Mike Fiers*	20:10
Alfredo Simon	CIN	5	2	5	8	7	STL	John Lackey	20:15
James Shields	KC	6	9	6	4	4	COL	Tyler Matzek	20:40
Dillon Gee	NYN	3	2	5	8	6	OAK	Scott Kazmir	22:05
Ian Kennedy	SD	7	3	4	5	0	LAN	Kevin Correia	22:10

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