NERD Game Scores: New York Area Baseball Contretemps
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
Washington at New York NL | 19:10 ET
Ross (32.2 IP, 67 xFIP-) vs. deGrom (127.1 IP, 79 xFIP-)
Were the author better at anything, he would integrate into the haphazardly derived NERD algorithm some manner of variable to account for those games in which division rivals — both possessing some non-negligible chance of winning that same division — face each other. I am not better at anything, however, and so what I’ve done instead is to alter indiscriminately the NERD score for this Washington and New York rencontre. Unaltered, it receives a score of 8 — or actually just one point fewer than the Angels-Dodgers game. For those readers, meanwhile, who count themselves among the nerd orthodoxy and are prepared to abide by whatever game the haphazardly derived algorithm dictates, then observing a couple hours of Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout oughtn’t prove very difficult.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: New York NL.
Two Brief Notes
Perpetually Looping Video: Taijuan Walker’s Changeups
Seattle right-hander Taijuan Walker produced an 11:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio against 30 batters over nine complete innings last night (box). What the footage below depicts is the concluding pitch from four of those strikeouts — all by means of Walker’s conspicuously effective changeup.
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Kansas City at Toronto, starts at 13:07 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yordano Ventura | KC | 9 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 5 | TOR | Mark Buehrle | 13:07 |
| Matt Moore | TB | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | BOS | Joe Kelly | 13:35 |
| Andrew Heaney | LAA | 7 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | LAN | Clayton Kershaw | 16:05 |
| Matthew Wisler | ATL | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 | PHI | Aaron Nola | 19:05 |
| Anibal Sanchez | DET | 5 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | BAL | Kevin Gausman | 19:05 |
| Jer. Hellickson | AZ | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOU | Dallas Keuchel | 19:10 |
| Kyle Hendricks | CHN | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | MIL | Matt Garza | 19:10 |
| Bryan Mitchell* | NYA | 6 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 4 | CHA | John Danks | 19:10 |
| Gerrit Cole | PIT | 10 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 7 | CIN | Raisel Iglesias | 19:10 |
| Od. Despaigne | SD | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | MIA | Jose Urena | 19:10 |
| M. Montgomery | SEA | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | MIN | Kyle Gibson | 19:10 |
| Joe Ross | WAS | 10 | 7 | 9^ | 6 | 10 | NYN | Jacob deGrom | 19:10 |
| Jorge de la Rosa | COL | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | STL | Lance Lynn | 19:15 |
| Chris Heston | SF | 5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 8 | TEX | Cole Hamels | 20:05 |
| Cody Anderson | CLE | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | KC | Aaron Brooks* | 21:05 |
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.
^ = Author has altered score indiscriminately.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
The Royals have to play in Toronto and Kansas City today? I guess MLB finally got sick of the antics of the Bad Boys of Baseball and is trying to punish them.