Top games of the week: May 1 to May 7

May began with a bang: Three games get a three stars rank in the first week, and that’s not counting Francisco Liriano’s and Justin Verlander’s no-hitters.

The reason why such remarkable feats do not make the top five list deserves a few lines of explanation, since the reference article was written five months ago.

Games are ranked using a combination of measures mostly based on Win Expectancy and Leverage Index. The measures can roughly be combined in three factors, which aim at quantifying equilibrium throughout the game, magnitude of rally and importance of the late phases of the contest.

Here are the top five games of the first week of May.

  date                game stars
 05-04    Angels @ Red Sox   ***
 05-06 Nationals @ Marlins   ***
 05-05 Indians @ Athletics   ***
 05-03       Giants @ Mets    **
 05-01     Mets @ Phillies    **

The Angels @ Red Sox game goes straight to the top of the seasonal ranking, supplanting the April 8 contest between the Rockies and the Pirates. Nationals @ Marlins ranks fourth for the year.