NERD Game Scores for Monday, September 8, 2014

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
Kansas City at Detroit | 16:08 ET
Jeremy Guthrie (179.2 IP, 113 xFIP-, 1.2 WAR) faces Justin Verlander (178.0 IP, 111 xFIP-, 2.6 WAR). The Royals and Tigers are currently projected, by the methodology employed by this site, to record 89.4 and 89.1 total wins, respectively, this season — figures which the discerning reader will recognize as “largely indistinct” from each other. That the two clubs are both members of the AL Central and are both attempting to vanquish the other and are actually playing each other tonight — this is a recipe for drama. Or, in the parlance of those New Englanders who employ the intrusive R: a recipe for drammer.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Detroit Radio.

Lone, Brief Note
Regarding Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features Atlanta at Washington, starts at 7:05pm 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
Jered Weaver	LAA	3	4	5	4	9	CLE	Danny Salazar	13:05
Jeremy Guthrie	KC	5	9	8	10	5	DET	Justin Verlander	16:08
Mike Minor	ATL	7	6	5	4	6	WAS	Doug Fister	19:05
Jeff Locke	PIT	6	9	6	3	3	PHI	Kyle Kendrick	19:05
Jacob Turner	CHN	7	4	5	4	10	TOR	Marcus Stroman	19:07
Miguel Gonzalez	BAL	3	4	4	3	4	BOS	Joe Kelly	19:10
Jordan Lyles	COL	5	4	4	3	6	NYN	Jon Niese	19:10
Shelby Miller	STL	4	4	4	3	6	CIN	Dylan Axelrod*	19:10
Brad Penny*	MIA	3	4	5	6	5	MIL	Yovani Gallardo	20:10
Sonny Gray	OAK	8	10	7	3	6	CHA	Hector Noesi	20:10
Brad Peacock	HOU	4	4	6	8	10	SEA	Felix Hernandez	22:10
Od. Despaigne	SD	4	3	5	4	10	LAN	Clayton Kershaw	22:10

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