NERD Game Scores: Yankees-Angels’ Somewhat Urgent 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
New York AL at Los Angeles AL | 19:05 ET
Eovaldi (82.1 IP, 98 xFIP-) vs. Shoemaker (78.2 IP, 101 xFIP-)
The introduction of the wild-card game to baseball’s postseason format in 2012 has problematized slightly what precisely one means when saying that a club has “reached” or “qualified for” the playoffs. Technically, that wild-card game is denoted as a playoff contest. For the team that loses it, however — and for that team’s supporters — the pleasures typically associated with postseason baseball are incredibly short-lived. For that reason, the component of NERD team scores that accounts for a club’s playoff odds — which component is weighted more heavily in direct proportion to the proximity of those playoffs — is informed not by the relevant club’s overall playoff odds, but rather by the club’s odds of reaching the divisional series. Specifically, the closer to 50% a team’s odds of qualifying for the divisional series, the greater positive influence over that team’s NERD score — the logic being that such a club is playing the highest-leverage games in the league.

One finds, in the Yankees and Angels, two of the three clubs in closest proximity to that 50% mark. Regard, the seven clubs within 20 points or less of same:

New York currently possesses the least certain future with regard to the postseason. Pittsburgh trails them by only a slight amount. And then the Anaheims’ divisional-series odds of 37.8% place them third. While it’s probably fair to say that winning or losing this particular game is not of the greatest urgency to either the Yankees or Angels, it’s also accurate to say that urgency is most present in this encounter of all those present on today’s schedule.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles AL Television.

Two Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Seattle at San Diego, starts at 15:40 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.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
Trevor May	MIN	7	3	5	4	7	CIN	Johnny Cueto	12:35
Rick Porcello	BOS	5	5	6	9	4	TOR	Mark Buehrle	13:07
Chad Bettis	COL	6	4	5	5	4	OAK	Jesse Hahn	15:35
Taijuan Walker	SEA	9	4	6	4	8	SD	James Shields	15:40
Kyle Lohse	MIL	4	3	3	1	3	PHI	Aaron Harang	19:05
Nathan Eovaldi	NYA	8	9	7	7	5	LAA	Matt Shoemaker	19:05
Nick Martinez	TEX	2	3	4	7	5	BAL	Wei-Yin Chen	19:05
A.J. Burnett	PIT	6	7	5	5	2	DET	Alfredo Simon	19:08
Jon Lester	CHN	6	6	6	4	6	NYN	Bartolo Colon	19:10
Carlos Carrasco	CLE	10	6	6	6	3	TB	Alex Colome	19:10
Chris Heston	SF	7	6	5	5	3	MIA	Dan Haren	19:10
Doug Fister	WAS	3	4	3	2	2	ATL	Matthew Wisler	19:10
Edinson Volquez	KC	4	7	6	10	2	HOU	Vincent Velasquez	20:10
Jose Quintana	CHA	5	1	4	4	4	STL	John Lackey	20:15
Brett Anderson	LAN	6	6	6	5	5	AZ	Robbie Ray	21:40

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