Jake Arrieta continued his August dominance for the Cubs Tuesday

The most important players for fantasy purposes are mostly on those teams that are in playoff contension. Fortunately for fantasy owners, Tuesday night’s schedule was full of potential playoff contenders. Three games with teams that have playoff aspirations will be featured in this daily update for August 26, 2015.

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Recap

Jake Arrieta leads Cubs past Giants
Arrieta has now allowed two earned runs in 33 1/3 August innings after pitching six shutout innings against the Giants on Tuesday night, allowing only four hits and one walk while striking out eight batters. Arrieta has come into his own as one of the top-five SP in baseball and has a 1.20 ERA in 52 1/3  innings in the second half. Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run home run, finishing 1-for-4 and moving his RBI total to 35. Although Schwarber has cooled off a bit since his torrid start, last posting a multi-hit game on August 13, but he still has a .944 OPS in 142 at-bats this season and nine RBI in his last 10 games. Starlin Castro was 3-for-4 with a double, home run, RBI, and scored two runs for the Cubs, his first multi-hit game since August 14. The two extra-base hits mark the third time that Castro has had multiple extra-base hits this season and the 25-year-old only has a .596 OPS this season.

Brandon Belt was 1-for-4 with a run scored and RBI for the Giants, who came back a bit after Arrieta left the game to only lose 8-5. Belt now has 60 RBI this season, and 17 RBI this month, providing value for fantasy owners with a .832 OPS.

Troy Tulowitzi helps Blue Jays to comeback win over Rangers
Tulowitzki helped earn a hard fought win for the Blue Jays with an RBI single in the ninth inning and finished 3-for-5 with a run scored. Tulowitzki only has a .239 batting average with the Blue Jays since being acquired from the Rockies, but he has scored 20 runs and has 10 RBI with Toronto. Jose Bautista had a home run for the second straight game, hitting his 30th home run of the season as a part of his 1-for-5 outing with two RBI. Bautista ranks eighth in the American League in home runs and has nine home runs, 19 runs scored, and 19 RBI in August. Chris Colabello finished 2-for-4 with a home run, run scored, and RBI, seeing his August batting average jump to .459. He is not an everyday player for the Blue Jays, but has eight runs scored and 10 RBI in 37 at-bats, posting a .905 OPS for the season.

Rougned Odor was 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two RBI, and scored twice in the Rangers’ 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Odor has a .325 batting average in August and has six extra-base hits in his last eight games.

Astros rout Yankees
Carlos Gomez was 2-for-6 with a double, home run, two runs scored, and four RBI for the Astros in their huge win over the Yankees. Gomez only has a .697 OPS for the season between his time with the Astros and Brewers, and a .191 batting average with the Astros, with Tuesday night’s multi-hit game as his first multi-hit game since August 4. Evan Gattis pounded his 20th home run on the season, finishing 2-for-4 with two walks, three runs scored, and four RBI. Gattis now has four multi-hit games in his last nine games, raising his seasonal batting average to .241, and the 20 home runs mark the third straight season with 20 or more home runs. Dallas Keuchel won his 15th game of the season, pitching seven shutout innings, allowing only three hits and striking out nine batters without a walk. Keuchel has a 2.08 ERA in 34 2/3 August innings and has not allowed an earned run in 16 innings against the Yankees this season, posting 21 strikeouts while allowing only one walk.

Jacoby Ellsbury scored the only run for the Yankees in the 15-1 drubbing, finishing 2-for-4 and posting his third multi-hit game in his last four games. Ellsbury’s hot streak over the last 10 games, where he has 15 hits, has seen his August batting average jump to .258 and he has scored 11 runs this month.

Stephen Strasburg continues his outstanding return
Strasburg has been an SP1 since returning from the disabled list, pitching six innings against the Padres on Tuesday, allowing two runs on two hits while walking one batter and striking out seven. Strasburg has pitched 26 innings since returning from the disabled list on August 8 and has a 1.73 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, and 32 strikeouts while walking only three batters. Ryan Zimmerman was only 1-for-5, but his one hit was a grand slam, bringing his August RBI total to 18. Zimmerman only has five hits in his last 10 games, but he has a .892 OPS since returning from the disabled list on July 28. Wilson Ramos finished 1-for-3 with his 11th home run of the season and two RBI for the Nationals. Ramos has now hit home runs in back-to-back games and has RBI in three straight games, moving his August RBI total to 11.

Jedd Gyorko clubbed two home runs in a losing effort for the Padres, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBI. Gyorko now has a five-game hitting streak, and has hits in eight of the last 10 games, and has five home runs and 16 RBI in August.

Michael Brantley and Indians slug past Brewers
Brantley hit two home runs on Tuesday night to bring his seasonal total to 11 and was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI against his former team the Brewers. Brantley has been one of the best hitters in August, posting a .410 batting average, 11 extra-base hits, 14 runs scored, and 16 RBI, moving into the top-15 of outfielders for the season. Jason Kipnis finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI, and three runs scored for his second three-hit game since returning from the disabled list on August 18. Kipnis has 46 extra-base hits in 109 games this season, regaining his value as a top-five 2B. Francisco Lindor continued his torrid August stretch with a 3-for-4 outing with a run scored, double, and three RBI. Lindor has a .378 batting average in August, including six doubles, 11 RBI, and 14 runs scored, and has three three-hit games in his last four games.

Jonathan Lucroy had two home runs for the Brewers in the loss, finishing 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, and three RBI. Lucroy only has a .229 batting average in August, and .248 for the season, seeing his extra-base hit total drop from 68 in 2014 to 26 in 83 games of 2015.

What to watch for

Some of the best pitchers in baseball will be on the mound tonight and the best matchup sees David Price facing Colby Lewis in Blue Jays/Rangers. Price has pitched 30 1/3 innings over four starts since being acquired by Toronto and has a 1.78 ERA and 0.96 WHIP while striking out 33 batters. Lewis has a 14-5 record. Max Scherzer, Chris Archer, and Chris Sale will also pitch today.

Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.