This Represents the First Edition of the Year’s NERD Scores

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.

A Brief Introduction
As the title indicates flawlessly, what this post represents is the first edition of NERD game scores for the 2016 season. As the brief italicized paragraph above indicates, NERD scores themselves 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.”

Scores for pitchers and teams are calculated by weighting a number of statistical measures, combining them, and then distributing the results along a scale from 0 to 10. Scores for games are calculated by averaging together the pitcher and team scores — with a greater emphasis on the former at the beginning of the season, and a greater emphasis on the latter towards the end of it. The result is the game score — hypothetically a measure of the game’s appeal. A reasonably current review of the components and their attendant weights is available here.

What the reader quickly discovers upon inspecting these scores (such as the ones which appear below) is that he or she disagrees with some or all of them. While that’s probably a result of major flaws in the conception and execution of NERD, it’s also the product of how humans are themselves unique, adorable snowflakes with beautiful, diverse opinions. It’s inevitable that the reader would dissent from some of the results produced by a haphazardly constructed and unfortunately named baseball metric. Nor are the consequences particularly dire. Indeed, a further examination of the matter reveals that snowflakes and humans share another quality, too — namely, how horribly fleeting they are. In the event that a reader is aggrieved by what he or she finds here, then that same reader can find some solace in the instant obscurity by which this post and its author will be consumed.

Most Highly Rated Game
Minnesota at Houston | 20:10 ET
Berrios (4.0 IP, 100 xFIP-) vs. Keuchel (32.2 IP, 88 xFIP-)
Minnesota right-hander Jose Berrios, a consensus top-ten or even top-five prospect entering the season, records his second major-league start. Despite conceding five runs in just 4.0 innings during his debut last Wednesday against Cleveland (box), he actually acquitted himself reasonably well by fielding-independent metrics. Of some note, otherwise: Houston and Minnesota have recorded the lowest and second-lowest average batter ages among all American League clubs this year.

Two Other Brief Notes
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Texas at Toronto, starts at 19:07 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Broadcaster Rankings
Recently, the present author began the process of process of reproducing the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. Cast ballots for television broadcasts here; for radio broadcasts, here.

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.

NERD Scores for May 2, 2016

Away		SP	TM	GM	TM	SP		Home	Time
Jason Hammel	CHN	4	9	6	5	7	PIT	Gerrit Cole	19:05
A.J. Griffin	TEX	3	3	4	5	5	TOR	R.A. Dickey	19:07
Mike Foltynewicz*	ATL	7	0	6	7	8	NYN	Bartolo Colon	19:10
Johnny Cueto	SF	7	5	5	3	4	CIN	Brandon Finnegan	19:10
Jered Weaver	LAA	0	2	2	5	3	MIL	Jimmy Nelson	19:20
Jose Berrios*	MIN	9	6	7	6	6	HOU	Dallas Keuchel	20:10
Jeremy Hellickson	PHI	5	3	4	7	2	STL	Adam Wainwright	20:15
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	5	5	5	4	5	KC	Edinson Volquez	20:15
Nate Karns	SEA	4	5	6	5	8	OAK	Kendall Graveman	22:10
Jonathan Gray*	COL	9	5	5	5	1	SD	James Shields	22:10

SP denotes pitcher NERD score.
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.