Christian Yelich takes home spotlight honors with a big performance in the Brewers 15-14, 14 inning win over the Nationals. He led all players in DFS scoring on both DraftKings and FanDuel with his 5-for-6 night. He swatted a pair of home runs, stole a bag, walked once, scored three times, and had four RBI. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet. It was his fourth multi-homer game of the year and his tenth bash-and-dash game of the year. He now has 41 home runs, 89 RBI, 24 steals, and a .333 batting average in what looks like a second straight MVP campaign for him. Everyone said “no way he matches his home run total of 36 this year,” boy were we wrong. He already has new career highs in both home runs and stolen bases, but still needs 22 more RBI to top last year’s total.

Strong Outings

  • Steven Brault was a hard luck loser against the Cubs, pitching a terrific game in which he gave up one run over seven innings of work. He gave up just two hits while striking out eight. It was easily his best outing of the year, as both his strikeouts and innings pitched were both season highs. He will carry a 3-2 record and 4.06 ERA into his next outing.
  • Jon Lester was a huge reason why Brault was stuck with a loss as Lester tossed six shutout innings in a win over the Pirates. He gave up four hits while striking out three. Lester had been roughed up in his previous three outings, but took advantage of a great match-up in this one. He will carry a 10-8 record and 4.23 ERA into his next outing.
  • Ryan Yarbrough scattered three hits across 6.1 shutout innings in a no decision against the Tigers. He struck out a day-high 10 and led all pitchers in DFS scoring. He has quietly been pitching great for a while now, as he has a 1.43 ERA across his last 56.2 innings pitched, a span of 11 outings. The 10 strikeouts were a new season high. He will carry an 11-3 record and 3.34 ERA into his next outing.
  • Jacob deGrom continued his impressive run, tossing seven innings of one-run ball in a win over the Royals. He gave up three hits while striking out five. His one run shouldn’t have even happened either, but since the MLB says you “can’t assume a double play” on easy double play balls that turn into errors, the run was earned.He will carry an 8-7 record and 2.61 ERA into his next outing. 
  • Eduardo Rodríguez fired 7.1 shutout innings in a win over the Orioles. He gave up four hits while striking out four. It was a nice bounce back outing for Erod, who gave up five runs in his previous start. He is a good example of why wins/losses don’t matter, as he is now 14-5 with a poor 4.10 ERA on the year.
  • German Márquez delivered a decent start in Coors in a win over Miami, hurling five innings of two-run ball. He gave up five hits while striking out eight. Not the most dominant outing in the world, but given his struggles at home this year, fantasy owners will take this outing I’m sure. He will carry a 12-5 record and lousy 4.71 ERA into his next outing.
  • Logan Webb picked up a win in his MLB debut, tossing five innings of two-run (one earned) ball. He gave up five hits while striking out seven. A very strong debut. He has some fantasy appeal, as he pitched to a 3.41 ERA across 63.1 innings at minor league level this year before getting the call. He had 69 strikeouts in that span.
  • Jordan Zimmermann delivered five shutout innings in a no-decision. He gave up just one hit while striking out five. It was his first outing without allowing a run since his first start of the season when he tossed seven shutout frames against the Jays. It was his second straight start with at least five strikeouts. He will carry a disastrous 1-8 record and 6.66 ERA into his next outing.

Hitter Highlights

Yordan Alvarez is a machine. He swatted a pair of home runs and had three RBI in the Astros 8-4 loss to Oakland. He is now hitting .344 with 19 home runs and 55 RBI through 52 games played. He has a great approach at the plate and he looks like a guy that is going to be a four-category monster for many years to come in fantasy.

Gleyber Torres launched a pair of solo home runs in the Yankees 6-5 win over the Indians. He now has nine home runs in August to go along with 17 RBI. He has a .284 batting average, 29 home runs, and 73 RBI for year. So much for sophomore slumps.

Ryan Braun went 3-6 with a pair of home runs, a walk, a stolen base, and three runs scored in the Brewers marathon win over the Nationals. He is having a strong month of August, hitting .372 with three home runs and a pair of steals. For the year, Braun is hitting .284 with 18 home runs and he has gone 9-of-10 on stolen base attempts. Oddly enough, he is having his best year since 2016 in what is his age 35 campaign.

Miguel Sanó went 3-6 with a home run, two RBI, and three runs scored. It was his third home run in the past four games and his fifth in August. His .242 batting average for the year leaves a little to be desired, but fantasy owners can’t complain about his 23 home runs and 50 RBI across 74 games played.

Trevor Story finished a perfect 3-3 with a home run, a pair of walks, three RBI, and two runs scored. He is having a fantastic month of August, hitting .407 with six home runs, 12 RBI, 13 runs scored, and three stolen bases. He should reach the 30-20 mark for the second straight season as he now has 28 home runs and 17 stolen bases to go along with 90 runs, 70 RBI, and a .293 batting average.

Ryan McMahon swatted a pair of home runs in the Rockies win. He has four home runs in the past three days and five home runs in the past five days. He has set new career highs in every statistical category as he is now hitting .269 with 17 home runs and 63 RBI while going a perfect 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts.

Adam Eaton finished 4-8 with a home run, a pair of doubles, three RBI, and two runs scored. He is now hitting .340 with two home runs and three stolen bases in the month of August. He is one home run shy of his third career 10-10 season as he has nine home runs and 13 steals to go along with a .287 batting average.

Aristides Aquino only had one hit, but he made it count, smashing a three-run home run. He now has 11 home runs in 16 games this year. He is on an absurd home run barrage right now.

What to Watch for Today

Jack Flaherty (6-6, 3.52 ERA) will look to continue his ridiculous recent run of success when he takes on the Reds. He hasn’t given up a run in last three starts, a span of 21 innings, and he has a 0.79 ERA over his last seven outings. Not too shabby.

Zack Greinke (12-4, 2.91 ERA) will make his third start with the Astros. He has picked up a quality start in both his starts for Houston thus far and he will have a ballpark upgrade in this one as he will pitch in Oakland.

José Quintana (10-7, 4.11 ERA) will make his first start since his season-high 14 strikeout performance against the Phillies. It was only the second time this year that he has gone into the double-digits for strikeouts. He has a really nice match-up with the Pirates.