Jul 18, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the Athletics at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images In June, MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, pleaded guilty to stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani.
Shohei alleges that he learned the $16 million was stolen from him at the same time as the general public at the start of the 2025 season. He had no idea that Mizuhara had any sort of gambling problem, and he also didn’t know that sixteen million dollars was missing from his bank account.
Ohtani was immediately seen as innocent and was never suspended from baseball. He had presumed innocence in a situation that doesn’t feel, at the very least, like the whole truth. It’s challenging to believe that Mizuhara had never once mentioned his gambling habits to Ohtani, and it’s unclear how Ohtani overlooked $16 million missing from his bank account.
Yet MLB gave the most popular player in the sport the benefit of the doubt and let Ohtani continue to play without any sort of suspension.
That was the right choice. There is no cold-cut evidence that Ohtani was gambling, so he should continue to play; however, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were not given that same benefit and were immediately suspended from baseball.
Ortiz was the first Cleveland player suspended at the beginning of the month for two pitches with increased bet activity. These pitches had unusually high volume on them, and the results from these pitches don’t paint Ortiz to be innocent.
These seem like obvious waste pitches, and if Ortiz was knowingly throwing games, I never want to see him throw another pitch in professional baseball. But if there isn’t immediate cold hard proof of him, or someone close to him, placing bets, why in the world isn’t Ortiz innocent until proven guilty?
The same situation is unfolding for Clase.
Once again, these don’t look great for Clase, but why are two lesser-known players in a small market not given the same benefit of the doubt as the most popular player in the sport? Cleveland is in an interesting situation currently, debating whether to be buyers or sellers at the deadline, but these suspensions are making things much harder.
If the Guardians wanted to make a soft reset or even acquire a major league–ready bat like Jarren Duran, they could have accomplished that by moving Clase. Or they could have kept their closer, who has been the best in the sport since 2020, and looked to compete next season when their close-to-major-league-ready bats would be added to the lineup.
The whole situation feels hypocritical from Commissioner Rob Manfred. More facts need to be given to the public, or Cleveland should still be allowed to have these needed arms on the roster.
Lucas Paquetá, the Brazilian midfielder for West Ham, was under investigation over the past season for allegedly committing purposeful yellow cards in games. The evidence looked similar to the situations of Clase and Ortiz, where the media has already cast them as guilty; but it appears that Paquetá is going to be cleared of any wrongdoing and will be free to continue playing as is.
Paquetá was never actually suspended, as there was not 100 percent proof that he was betting on games. The evidence looked like he was, but he was innocent until proven guilty. This is an absolute injustice from the MLB Players Association for not stepping in and keeping these pitchers on the field until they are 100 percent proven to be guilty.
