"Gambling is a numbers game, so here are a few: The pitcher Emmanuel Clase 's 2025 salary from Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians is $4.5 million dollars. This weekend, prosecutors unveiled charges that he had made just $12,000 from two recent rigged pitches. And he could face as many as 65 years in prison (though such a stiff sentence seems unlikely). Clase and the fellow Guardians hurler Luis Ortiz were indicted last week for their involvement in the scheme, which allegedly netted bettors hundreds of thousands of dollars. ( Attorneys for Clase and Ortiz have denied the allegations.)"
"Traditional sports fandom involves rooting for your team to win; traditional sports gambling involves putting money on the game results too. The most notorious baseball-gambling episode was the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal, in which members of the Chicago White Sox (including "Shoeless Joe" Jackson) were accused of intentionally losing the World Series as part of a mob betting scheme and banned from the sport."
Prosecutors charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz with participating in a scheme that allegedly involved throwing specific pitches to benefit bettors. Clase earned $4.5 million in 2025 yet reportedly made only $12,000 from two rigged pitches, while the scheme purportedly netted bettors hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both players deny the allegations. Major professional leagues have deep commercial ties to the gambling industry, including sponsorships and casinos in venues, even as gambling introduces risks of corruption. Historical scandals such as the 1919 Black Sox remain a benchmark for how betting can threaten baseball's integrity.
Read at The Atlantic
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