TORONTO (AP) — Mr. Splitty has returned.
Showcased by World Series Game 6 starters Kevin Gausman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, split-finger fastballs have been used for 6.8% of postseason pitches this year, more than double last year's 2.4% and up from 1.5% when pitch tracking started in 2008.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates his complete game after Game 2 of baseball's World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) celebrates retiring the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning in Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman delivers against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning in Game 7 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Toronto, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) delivers against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
“There’s so many good pitches in today’s game — there’s so many good sweepers and sliders and cutters,” Gausman said. “I think the split is almost kind of a just a little bit different of an animal. You can recognize the spin and you can still have a pretty ugly swing on it if the metrics are right.”
Toronto used splitters a big league-high 9.3% of the time during the regular season, according to MLB Statcast. That was the highest percentage of any team since pitch tracking started in 2008, topping 7.8% by Minnesota in 2023 and Baltimore this year.
Gausman has thrown his splitter 41.4% of the time in the postseason, followed on the Blue Jays by fellow starter Trey Yesavage (27.7%), closer Jeff Hoffman (25.9%) and relievers Seranthony Domínguez (16.7%) and Yariel Rodríguez (8.6%).
Roki Sasaki, shifted from rotation to relief, tops the Dodgers at 45.9%, followed by Yamamoto at 24.7% and Shohei Ohtani at 7.4%.
“Roger Craig is smiling somewhere," New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, referring to the late pitching coach and manager, among the splitter's most prominent proponents. “With all these cameras and technology and stuff, you’re really able to outfit guys with what they should be doing based on how their body moves.”
Bruce Sutter, Jack Morris and John Smoltz utilized the splitter during careers that earned induction into the Hall of Fame.
Splitters are throw with index and middle fingers spread wide, intended to have substantial downward break.
Sutter credited his reaching the Hall to learning the splitter from Fred Martin, a big leaguer from 1946-50 who became a Chicago Cubs minor league instructor.
“He told me to spread my fingers apart and throw it just like a fastball,” Sutter said during his Hall induction speech in 2006. “There were players throwing forkballs at the time and a few guys were using it for a changeup, but nobody was throwing what he called the split finger. It was a pitch that didn’t change how the game was played but developed a new way to get hitters out.”
Craig taught the splitter to Morris as pitching coach of the Detroit Tigers and to Mike Scott when he was with the Houston Astros. Roger Clemens learned how to throw it from Scott at a charity golf event in 1986 and started calling the pitch “Mr. Splitty.”
Usage dropped after the pitch gained a reputation for causing elbow injuries. Just 1.4% of regular-season pitches were splitters when tracking started. The percentage climbed to 2.2% in 2023, 3.1% in 2024 and 3.3% this year.
“Going back a few years, I think certain people thought they couldn’t throw it, they couldn’t actually get their fingers wide enough,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Pitch design has changed, and I think guys have figured out different ways to grip it, like, Gaus’s is different than Trey’s, Trey’s is different than Seranthony’s, Yariel’s is different than -- they all hold it a little bit differently. So I think pitchers have just gotten to the point where they understand that pitch works against certain swing types that are pretty prevalent in the league and they figured out ways to kind of manipulate to get the same action.”
Gausman's 37.6% splitter usage during the season was third behind Detroit's Rafael Montero (46.9%) and Philadelphia's Jhoan Duran (39.7%) among those who threw at least 1,000 pitches.
Among starting pitchers who threw at least 100 splitters, Yamamoto held batters to a .136 average, third behind Seattle's Logan Gilbert (.119) and Atlanta's Spencer Schwellenbach (.132).
Batters had a .181 average against Gausman's splitter, down from .230 vs. his fastball and .342 against his slider.
“One of the few pitches I thoroughly believe a hitter can know it’s coming and still get out,” Gausman said. “I’ve always felt like the changeup is the best pitch in the game because it looks like a fastball, and anything that looks like a fastball and isn’t is really good.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates his complete game after Game 2 of baseball's World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) celebrates retiring the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning in Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman delivers against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning in Game 7 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Toronto, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) delivers against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in Game 2 of baseball's World Series, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Keionte Scott peeked over at the Miami sideline to see the reaction of his teammates as he sprinted 72 yards untouched for a touchdown when returning an interception against defending national champion Ohio State.
They certainly were excited, as were a Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver and a former coach who won national championships with the Hurricanes.
Scott picked off a screen pass by Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin, Carson Beck threw a touchdown pass and 10th-ranked Miami shocked the Buckeyes 24-14 on Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl in the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
“I was full of emotions. ... That was a pretty cool moment,” said Scott, who has TD returns on both of his interceptions this season. “Just having fun. ... That’s what this team relies on, man, just going out there playing free and just having fun.”
The Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) have won two playoff games to get into football’s final four after needing an at-large berth to make the 12-team field, after not even without playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. One more win and they will get to play for a national championship in their home stadium.
Next for Miami in coach Mario Cristobal’s fourth season is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.
There hasn’t been a national title for “The U” since 2001, when Cristobal was an offensive tackle for the Hurricanes and part of his second championship there. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat the following season with a double-overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Ohio State, the only other time the teams met in a bowl — and the last they played in that game.
“It is 100% not about me. I’m part of their team, I’m a part of that family,” Cristobal said. “It is my obligation as a former Miami Hurricane player and all the things that Miami did for my brother and I to do my best to try to provide these guys with even better opportunities so they can fulfill all the great things that are destined for”
Before Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin and coach Jimmy Johnson won Super Bowl titles with the Dallas Cowboys, they were part of the Hurricanes' 1987 national championship. Irvin excitedly ran down the sideline while Scott was scoring for a 14-0 lead, and Johnson was nearby when acknowledged by Cristobal during the on-field trophy presentation.
Now it's third-ranked Ohio State (12-2, CFP No. 2 seed), which went into the game as a 9 1/2-point favorite according to BetMGM Sportsbook, that can't win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history.
The Buckeyes hadn't played since a 13-10 loss to now-No. 1 Indiana in a Big Ten championship game matchup of undefeated teams on Dec. 6. They still got a first-round bye, then lost just like all four teams that went directly to the quarterfinal round in the inaugural 12-team playoff last season.
“We worked really hard during the last three weeks leading up to this game to come out of the gates and win the first quarter, win the first half, be ready to go,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “I think the guys bought into it. But at the end of the day, we didn’t get it done.”
Scott's interception return came only 1:42 after Beck's quick pass to Mark Fletcher Jr. coming out of the backfield for a 9-yard score.
Beck, who was part of Georgia's national titles in 2021 and 2022 when Stetson Bennett was the starter, completed 19 of 26 passes for 138 yards.
When asked what stood out to him about Miami, Beck said, “Just the way that this team has responded to adversity. We knew coming into today that it wasn’t going to be easy.”
The TD throw to Fletcher, who also ran 19 times for 90 yards and was the game's offensive MVP, was the seventh of 13 consecutive completions for Beck. That set a record in the Cotton Bowl, which was played for the 90th time.
Sayin, a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State's championship run last season, was 22 of 35 for 287 yards with two interceptions and a TD to Jeremiah Smith. Sayin was sacked five times.
AP All-America receiver Smith, the Miami native, caught seven of those passes for 157 yards, including a 14-yard TD on a fourth down in the fourth quarter.
Carter Davis added a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter and ChaMar Brown ran for a 5-yard TD in the game's final minute for the Hurricanes, whose 24 points were the most Ohio State gave up this season.
Miami: The Hurricanes have won six games in a row since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, less than 25 miles from AT&T Stadium, where the Cotton Bowl is played. They also made their CFP debut in the Lone Star State, winning 10-3 at No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.
Ohio State: All-America safety Caleb Downs, who started in the CFP for the third season in a row, became the first player to force two fumbles in a CFP game. ... The Buckeyes had gone four consecutive quarters — the equivalent of a full game — until Bo Jackson’s 1-yard TD run to cap its opening drive of the second half.
Miami waits to see who it will play in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State is scheduled to open the the 2026 season at home against Ball State on Sept. 5.
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Former NFL football players Ray Lewis, left, and Michael Irvin react after Miami running back Charmar Brown, not visible, scored a rushing touchdown during the second half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Ohio State Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, right, hugs defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. following the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Ohio State Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin, center, is sacked by Miami defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr., left, and defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Miami quarterback Carson Beck, right, prepares to hand off to running back Mark Fletcher Jr. during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Ohio State Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding, with Joe McGuire holding, misses a field goal against Miami during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day looks o during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Miami Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Miami defensive back Jakobe Thomas, right, makes a tackle on Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek during the second half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
