Friday, 22 August 2014

22 Aug 2014: Potentially Entertaining Game Scores

Today sees notably weaker pitching match-ups than yesterday, and the teams at the top are characterised by strong bullpens, rather than a great pairing of starters. The top combination among the starters is Yordany Ventura going against Colby Lewis in Arlington, which only gets third place on the actual PEGS rating. Detroit's precarious playoff situation pushes an otherwise weak game up the chart, while the lack of playoff impact pushes the Angels visit to Oakland a bit further down than otherwise might be merited. But that's a big divisional contest. Pittsburgh's visit to Milwaukee is another interesting playoff-divisional set-to, but the Pirates' fading hopes have pulled that down a little, as they will depend quite a bit on results in Washington and Cincinnati to improve their odds.

San Francisco vs Washington 64
Seattle vs Boston           62
Atlanta vs Cincinnati       61
Kansas City vs Texas        58
Detroit vs Minnesota        55
Pittsburgh vs Milwaukee     55
Tampa Bay vs Toronto        48
St Louis vs Philadelphia    46
White Sox vs Yankees        45
Houston vs Cleveland        45
Angels vs Oakland           44
Baltimore vs Cubs           43
Miami vs Colorado           42
Mets vs Dodgers             41
San Diego vs Arizona        39

This is the BETA version of a method of rating games for their potential to provide entertaining baseball. The formula is still in development, but is refined enough at the moment that it can guide you towards games where the batters will get on base and hit for power, the fielders cover ground and throw well and the pitchers induce the batter to swing. Games are rated on the 20-80 scale, with 50 being an average score.

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