Overview
- Game 6 is set with Toronto up 3-2, Kevin Gausman positioned to clinch the Blue Jays’ first title in more than 30 years and Yoshinobu Yamamoto tasked with forcing a Game 7 for the Dodgers.
- Split-finger fastballs account for about 6.8% of postseason pitches, more than double last year’s 2.4% and far above the 1.5% rate when tracking began in 2008.
- Gausman has thrown the pitch 41.4% of the time in the playoffs, while Yamamoto sits at 24.7%, underscoring how central the offering is to both Game 6 starters.
- Hitters are slashing .154/.206/.250 against splitters this postseason, and the Dodgers are 1-for-22 with 14 strikeouts on the pitch in the World Series.
- Toronto led MLB with a 9.3% splitter rate in the regular season, and multiple teams are preparing offseason lab work to evaluate wider adoption using high-speed cameras and TrackMan data.