Sports gambling indictments, having just rocked the basketball world, have moved to baseball.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz on Sunday, alleging the pair engaged in wire fraud conspiracy. More specifically, the government claims the two players played significant roles in a “scheme to rig bets on pitches during Major League Baseball games.”
The indictment, filed in the Eastern District of New York, details an extensive plan by Clase and Ortiz to rig specific pitches with corrupt bettors to directly influence proposition bets, taking bribes in return for those actions. Bettors then used that rigged information to win what the Department of Justice described as at least $450,000 in fraudulent wagers.
The bribes in some cases were as small as $5,000 for a rigged pitch, despite the fact that Clase has been in the midst of a five-year, $20 million contract, and Ortiz earned $782,600 from the Guardians this year.
Ortiz was arrested Sunday in Boston, and will make an initial appearance in federal court there on Monday. Clase is currently not in U.S. custody. If convicted, each defendant faces a total 65 years in jail spanning four different counts in the indictment. The scheme is alleged to have gone on for more than two years, stretching with Clase in particular from May 2023 to June 2025. The indictment alleges Ortiz joined the scheme much later, beginning to rig specific pitches this past June.
“Through this scheme, the defendants defrauded betting platforms, deprived Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Guardians of their honest services, illegally enriched themselves and their co-conspirators, misled the public, and betrayed America’s pastime,” the indictment reads in part.
Clase’s agent declined to comment. Chris Georgalis, the attorney for Ortiz, denied the charges, saying his client “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game—not for anyone and not for anything. … There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning.”
The indictment also details the level to which bettors placed pressure on Clase and Ortiz as the scheme unfolded. Clase at one point tried to throw a ball, in accordance with the scheme, but the batter swung, resulting in a strike. A co-conspirator bettor is said to have texted Clase an image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper. Clase replied with an image of a “sad puppy dog face.”
Clase and Ortiz have been on paid non-disciplinary leave since July as MLB has conducted its own internal investigation. With the indictment in place, this raises the stakes for the two players considerably, and potentially sets them up for a lifetime ban from the league.
“MLB contacted federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and has fully cooperated throughout the process,” the league said in a statement. “We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing.” The Guardians similarly said they are aware of the charges and are cooperating with the league and law enforcement.
The baseball situation, of course, also closely follows, both in time and theme, last month’s federal indictments involving a current NBA player, a head coach, and a former player. The two cases, however, are separate matters legally.
Institutional Concerns
Speaking before Game 1 of the World Series last month, MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark sounded the alarm about the rising threats of gambling to his union’s membership. In particular, he expressed a desire to outlaw prop bets—the specific issue at the center of the latest indictments.
“We’re in support of removing any types of bets, prop or otherwise, that could create issues for our guys on the field,” Clark said. “We’ve heard a lot about prop bets of late, and it was one of the things we were concerned about from Day 1 as well.”
