NERD Game Scores: Rust Belt Arm-Speed Exhibition Sunday

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.

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Most Highly Rated Game
Cleveland at Pittsburgh | 13:35 ET
Salazar (85.1 IP, 78 xFIP-) vs. Cole (102.1 IP, 77 xFIP-)
Were one to insist today on watching an encounter between the two hardest-throwing starting pitchers in all of baseball, that same one would be disappointed by the major-league games scheduled for this afternoon and evening. Were one to lower his expectations even slightly, however, this Cleveland-Pittsburgh contest featuring Danny Salazar and Gerrit Cole — who’ve produced the fifth- and third-highest average fastball velocities, respectively, among qualifiers — would likely represent a source of considerable pleasure. Meanwhile, were one to recalibrate one’s tastes entirely, he could compete with an immortal god for happiness merely by eating a barley cake.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland Radio.

Other Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Philadelphia at Atlanta, starts at 13:35 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.

NERD Image 4

Away   SP Tm. Gm. Tm. SP   Home Time
Ivan Nova NYA 2 8 5 4 6 TB Erasmo Ramirez 13:05
Marco Estrada TOR 3 9 4 5 0 DET Justin Verlander 13:08
Taylor Jungmann MIL 4 3 4 4 6 CIN Mike Leake 13:10
Danny Salazar CLE 10 7 9 8 10 PIT Gerrit Cole 13:35
Lance McCullers HOU 8 10 8 5 7 BOS Eduardo Rodriguez 13:35
Cole Hamels PHI 8 2 5 2 7 ATL Shelby Miller 13:35
Miguel Gonzalez BAL 3 6 4 1 8 CHA Carlos Rodon 14:10
Ervin Santana* MIN 6 3 5 7 4 KC Danny Duffy 14:10
Ian Kennedy SD 5 4 5 5 5 STL Lance Lynn 14:15
Mat Latos MIA 6 5 6 7 7 CHN Kyle Hendricks 14:20
Mi. Montgomery SEA 5 4 5 5 4 OAK Chris Bassitt* 16:05
Jorge de la Rosa COL 4 4 5 5 9 AZ Rubby de la Rosa 16:10
Steven Matz* NYN 8 4 5 5 5 LAN Mike Bolsinger 16:10
C.J. Wilson LAA 4 7 4 3 3 TEX Colby Lewis 19:05
Ryan Vogelsong SF 1 5 4 4 5 WAS Jo. Zimmermann 20:08

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





Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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  1. cass says:

    Verlander has a NERD scored of zero. Wow.