NERD Game Scores: James Paxton Refulgent Pitching Event
Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric nobleman 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
Seattle at Tampa Bay | 13:10 ET
Paxton (16.0 IP, 45 xFIP-) vs. Snell (5.0 IP, 86 xFIP-)
If you’re the sort of person who’s impressed by strong fielding-indepenent pitching performances, then James Paxton’s most recent start (his third of the season) is for you. If you’re the sort of person who’s concerned only with a pitcher’s capacity to prevent runs — regardless of how he manages it — James Paxton’s most recent start is for you. If you’re the sort of person who’s like, “I’m more about guys with electric stuff. Like, they have this stuff, right? And that stuff is composed either mostly or entirely of electricity.” In that case, you might be Norm Macdonald, because he talks like that. But also, James Paxton’s most recent start is for you, probably. Finally, if you’re the sort of person who detests the rhetorical device anaphora, then this brief paragraph likely possesses little appeal for you. For that reason, and others too, maybe.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay Radio.
Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Toronto at Philadelphia, starts at 19;05 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.
Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author facilitated a crowdsourcing effort to reproduce the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The updated results for television broadcasts are available by means of this hyperlinked text; for radio, by means of this other 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 calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.
| Away | SP | TM | GM | TM | SP | Home | Time | ||
| Dan Straily | CIN | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ATL | Matt Wisler | 12:10 |
| James Paxton | SEA | 10 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 10 | TB | Blake Snell* | 13:10 |
| Colby Lewis | TEX | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | OAK | Daniel Mengden* | 15:35 |
| J.A. Happ | TOR | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 10 | PHI | Aaron Nola | 19:05 |
| Tyler Wilson | BAL | 2 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 0 | BOS | Eduardo Rodriguez | 19:10 |
| Juan Nicasio | PIT | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | NYN | Bartolo Colon | 19:10 |
| CC Sabathia | NYA | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | MIN | Kyle Gibson | 20:10 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 10 | KC | Danny Duffy | 20:15 |
| Junior Guerra | MIL | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | LAN | Scott Kazmir | 22:10 |
| Tanner Roark | WAS | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | SD | Erik Johnson | 22:10 |
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of clueless author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
I think there should be some variable to increase Bartolo Colon’s NERD score. Maybe an extra point for hitting a certain BMI/age threshold.
So David Wells had a nerd of 13?
His NERD was so big it wouldn’t fit on a barstool