NERD Game Scores: Night of a Thousand or Six Debuts

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
Toronto at Houston | 20:10 ET
Dickey (131.1 IP, 111 xFIP-) vs. McCullers (76.1 IP, 74 xFIP-)
It isn’t true, but what if it were, that the sum of Lance McCullers‘ innings-pitched total and xFIP- always equaled 150? Like, if he pitched seven innings tonight, his xFIP- would drop to 67. If he pitched another seven innings in his next start, he’d then have a 60 xFIP-. And then, if he recorded 61 innings in his next-next start, he would sport a negative xFIP-.

In conclusion, what the author has utilized here is a series of counterfactual conditionals, utilizing both the subjunctive and conditional verb moods.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Two Other Brief Notes
Debuts, All Manner of
As is common for that period directly after baseball’s trade deadline, tonight features a number of debuts. Newly acquired outfielder Charlie Tilson starts for the White Sox in center field, which event will represent his major-league debut. Carlos Beltran and Jonathan Lucroy are veteran ballplayers who debut for a new club this evening — specifically, the Texas Rangers. Matt Kemp was recently traded to Atlanta, for which club he starts in left field tonight. Josh Reddick, who went to the Dodgers with Rich Hill, starts for that club tonight in right field. And finally, hot hot hot shortstop prospect Orlando Arcia is expected to record his own major-league debut this evening for the Brewers in San Diego.

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 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.