NERD Game Scores: Price and Kluber Action 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
Detroit at Cleveland | 16:05 ET
David Price (203.1 IP, 72 xFIP-, 4.6 WAR) faces Corey Kluber (192.2 IP, 72 xFIP-, 5.8 WAR). Following a pair of victories against Kansas City — and a probably imminent, but also currently suspended, third win from Sunday’s game — Cleveland is now a non-negligible participant in the race for the AL Central. Even omitting that suspended game, the Clevelanders now possess better than 5% odds of winning the division — up from less than 2% entering play Saturday. Endeavoring to aid their clubs’ respective causes are Price and Kluber, two of the American League’s probably five most likely candidates — along with Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, and Max Scherzer — for the Cy Young award.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Detroit Radio.

Two Brief Notes
Debut Alert: Select Prospects
With the expansion of active rosters to 40 players, a number of clubs will promote/have already promoted a number of notable players. Among them, for example, is Kansas City left-hander Brandon Finnegan, selected just this summer in the first round out of TCU. And also is Detroit outfielder Steven Moya, who’s listed at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds.

Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features the same Detroit and Cleveland clubs feature above, 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
Rubby de la Rosa	BOS	4	3	4	4	6	TB	Drew Smyly	13:10
Zack Wheeler	NYN	7	2	4	4	7	MIA	Hen’son Alvarez	13:10
Cole Hamels	PHI	8	3	6	7	6	ATL	Julio Teheran	13:10
Phil Hughes	MIN	9	3	5	4	5	BAL	Kevin Gausman	13:35
Gerrit Cole	PIT	9	8	7	8	4	STL	Lance Lynn	14:15
Jimmy Nelson	MIL	6	10	6	4	5	CHN	Jacob Turner	14:20
David Price	DET	10	8	8	5	9	CLE	Corey Kluber	16:05
Chris Young	SEA	0	7	7	10	6	OAK	Jason Hammel	16:05
Trevor Cahill	AZ	5	3	4	3	8	SD	Tyson Ross	16:10
Tim Hudson	SF	5	10	5	3	0	COL	Franklin Morales	16:10
Colby Lewis	TEX	4	3	7	10	9	KC	Y’dano Ventura	20:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	7	4	4	4	1	LAN	Rob. Hernandez	20:10

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