NERD Game Scores: Jose Fernandez Dramatic Return Event

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 Miami | 12:10 ET
Cain (Season Debut) vs. Fernandez (Season Debut)
With few exceptions, three conditions must exist for a game — a game of any sort — to hold any sort of appeal for spectators, irrespective of what other variables might be present.

Three conditions, as follow:

1. The players must (mostly) follow the rules; and
2. The players must give the impression that they’re trying to win; and
3. There must exist some consequence to the result, such that victory produces a positive outcome; defeat, an undesirable one.

For today’s Marlins game, like most other Marlins games, no more than one and a half of those criteria are likely to be met — and yet it would be difficult for a reasonable party to argue that this afternoon’s contest possesses anything less than great appeal for spectators. The reason: today represents the return of Miami right-hander Jose Fernandez from the elbow injury that afflicted him last May.

Whatever the severity of that injury, it would appear as though this version of Fernandez bears considerable resemblance to that previous, ecstatic one. He produced strikeout and walk rates of 33.7% and 6.1%, respectively, over five starts and 24.2 innings between High- and Double-A as part of his rehab, sitting at 94-96 mph, it would appear, during the last of those.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

Two Brief Notes
Other Notable Returns: Cain and Moore
Other, real major-league starters Matt Cain and Matt Moore, are also scheduled to record their season debuts today. The former most recently appeared on July 9 of last year; the latter, on April 7, also of 2014.

Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Texas at Baltimore, starts at 19:05 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
Corey Kluber	CLE	10	6	8	5	9	TB	Matt Moore*	12:10
Matt Cain*	SF	7	5	8	5	13	MIA	Jose Fernandez*	12:10
Francisco Liriano	PIT	9	8	7	5	5	DET	Kyle Ryan	13:08
Jake Arrieta	CHN	8	6	7	4	10	NYN	Jacob deGrom	13:10
Matt Garza	MIL	4	3	3	1	2	PHI	Chad Billingsley	18:35
Yovani Gallardo	TEX	3	4	5	7	5	BAL	Kevin Gausman*	19:05
Wade Miley	BOS	4	5	7	9	10	TOR	Matt Boyd*	19:07
Max Scherzer	WAS	10	4	6	2	6	ATL	Manny Banuelos*	19:10
Tyson Ross	SD	8	3	5	4	5	STL	Undecided*	19:15
Kyle Gibson	MIN	4	3	4	7	1	KC	Chris Young	20:10
Chris Rusin	COL	5	3	4	5	4	AZ	Jeremy Hellickson	21:40
Roenis Elias	SEA	4	4	5	5	5	OAK	Scott Kazmir	22:05

* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.