NERD Game Scores for Saturday, June 11, 2016
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
Texas at Seattle | 22:10 ET
Lewis (76.0 IP, 112 xFIP-) vs. Paxton (9.2 IP, 29 xFIP-)
The left-handed Paxton established a career-high single-game average fastball velocity in his season debut on June 1st at San Diego. He established a new career-high mark in his next start — this one on June 6th against Cleveland. This evening’s game between Texas and Seattle represents Paxton’s third appearance of the year.
The difference between this version of Paxton and previous ones? Quite a bit, finds Eno Sarris — including a new arm slot, different pitch mix, and more dogged approach. The result has been basically a left-handed version of Noah Syndergaard. Regard, his average velocity marks per pitch type from that June 6th start compared to Syndergaard’s season figures.
| Pitch | Syndergaard in 2016 | Paxton on June 6 | Difference |
| Fastball | 99.2 | 98.9 | -0.3 |
| Changeup | 90.4 | 89.9 | -0.5 |
| Slider | 92.0 | 91.1 | -0.9 |
| Curveball | 82.8 | 84.4 | +1.6 |
The elite velocity hasn’t translated into elite run-prevention so far: Paxton has conceded 11 runs (only four earned) in 9.2 innings since this return. The strikeout and walk numbers have been elite, however, and are likely more indicative of his ability to record outs.
Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Texas Radio.
Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Toronto at Baltimore, starts at 13:07 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.
Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author facilitated a crowdsourcing effort to reproduce the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The results from that effort — for television broadcasts, at least — are available 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.
| Away | SP | TM | GM | TM | SP | Home | Time | ||
| Aaron Nola | PHI | 10 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | WAS | Tanner Roark | 12:05 |
| Mike Wright | BAL | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | TOR | J.A. Happ | 13:07 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | BOS | 0 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 0 | MIN | Kyle Gibson | 14:10 |
| Danny Duffy | KC | 10 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | CHA | Jose Quintana | 14:10 |
| Jake Arrieta | CHN | 8 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 4 | ATL | Matt Wisler | 16:10 |
| Mike Fiers | HOU | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | TB | Chris Archer | 16:10 |
| Logan Verrett | NYN | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | MIL | Wily Peralta | 16:10 |
| Daniel Mengden* | OAK | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | CIN | Dan Straily | 16:10 |
| Erik Johnson | SD | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | COL | Tyler Chatwood | 16:10 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | NYA | Masahiro Tanaka | 19:15 |
| Scott Kazmir | LAN | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | SF | TBA | 19:15 |
| Carlos Martinez | STL | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | PIT | Francisco Liriano | 19:15 |
| Trevor Bauer | CLE | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 8 | LAA | Matt Shoemaker | 22:05 |
| Jose Fernandez | MIA | 10 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | AZ | Zachary Godley* | 22:10 |
| Colby Lewis | TEX | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 12 | SEA | James Paxton* | 22:10 |
TM denotes team score.
GM denotes overall game score.
Highlighted portion denotes game of the day.
* = Fewer than 10 IP, NERD at discretion of clueless author.
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.