MLB Gambling Scandal: Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz Indicted on Pitch-Fixing Charges

• Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on pitch-fixing charges
• MLB faces a potentially devastating backlash amid questions of how it is navigating the new landscape of in-progress micro-wagering
• This comes simultaneously to the NBA facing its own gambling scandal and indictments
• What does this mean to sports, athletes, and the wagering industry?

The Clase/Ortiz Gambling Scandal in Brief

According to the above-linked news article, Clase and Ortiz conspired with bettors to throw individual pitches that would be below a certain velocity and end with a specific ball or strike result.

Both pitchers are accused of manipulating the outcome for bettors in exchange for payment multiple times.

The federal charges include wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.

Clase is a Star, and Ortiz Was a Year Away From a Relatively Lucrative Contract

Clase, 27, is a 2X All-Star and a 3X Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year. In 2024, he finished 3rd in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

In 2020, he was suspended for PED use. He signed a contract extension in April 2022 to cover his arbitration years, guaranteeing him $20 million. It could be worth up to $36 million if the two club option years in 2027-28 were exercised.

Cleveland acquired Ortiz from the Pirates after the 2024 season. Ortiz is in his fourth year in MLB and was paid $782,600 in 2025. He had an up-and-down season before his suspension, but had a 0.6 bWAR with 96 K’s in 88.2 innings. If he improved his command, he had the chance to be a solid number 4 or 5 starter. A good year in 2026 could easily have led Cleveland to approach him about a contract extension.

The budget-conscious Guardians tend to maintain a payroll of around $100 million. Their best and highest-paid player, Jose Ramirez, has a 7-year, $141 million deal. If Ramirez sought every last dollar, he could have entered free agency and received a contract worth at least $400 million. While Clase and Ortiz’s salaries are small in context, they earn a lot of money.

This begs the question as to why they would risk their livelihoods doing this and do it so blatantly.

The Numbers and the History Indicate Something Was Amiss

According to Fangraphs, Clase’s fastball has averaged between 98.5 and 100.7 miles per hour since he made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2019. His cutter is about the same. His slider averages around 91 mph. On the day in question, June 7, 2023, the bet required him to throw a pitch slower than 95 mph and for the pitch to be called a ball.

Mission accomplished on both counts.

In that game, Cleveland led the Red Sox 5-2. Jarren Duran led off with a 4-pitch walk. Clase retired the next three batters and recorded the save.

Of course, the argument could be made that he was throwing a slider. But with a 3-run lead, the idea that he was going to start with a breaking pitch is preposterous. For his career, he has relied on his cutter nearly 70% of the time and his slider around 30%. If it were a 1-run lead with a good fastball hitter at the plate? Ok. Maybe. But with a 3-run lead, the idea is to throw strikes, and if the batter gets a hit, he gets a hit. The worst thing a pitcher can do in that situation is to allow walks.

For their cooperation, Ortiz and Clase received between $5,000 and $7,000 for their agreed-upon outcomes. Bettors made nearly half a million dollars.

Going back to the days of the 1919 World Series, which nearly destroyed baseball entirely, signs were obvious that something was afoot. Legend says that White Sox (Black Sox) Game 1 starter Eddie Cicotte hit Reds leadoff hitter Morrie Rath with the first pitch to signal to gamblers that the fix was in. In reality, he hit him with the second pitch as depicted in the film “Eight Men Out.”

Clase and Ortiz Were Clumsy, Stupid, or Both

Perhaps under the mistaken presumption that “no one’s gonna notice,” they thought it was one pitch; that it wasn’t a lot of money being wagered, won, and lost; that the relatively minor percentage they received for their efforts (or lack thereof) would be comparable to a misdemeanor.

But those famous last words ignore the reality of how seriously the online bookmakers take their oversight, what their algorithms are designed to flag, and how deeply league investigators dive into any player behavior that could be perceived as manipulative.

Online books notice when there is an unusual amount of action on a particular play.

Logically, how many people are betting on the first pitch thrown by a Guardians reliever in a midseason game and betting a ton of money on a particular outcome?

Does it make sense for there to be a couple of bucks here, a couple of bucks there, throwaway bets to make or lose a minuscule amount of money and then — BOOM!!!! — there’s a ton of action with someone betting a thousand bucks or more on one pitch?

Did they not realize that would be flagged?

And for $5,000-$7,000 every time they did it? Do they understand risk/reward and consequences less than they understand how bookmakers make their money and what league investigators — inevitably former law enforcement officers — do?

What Does This Mean for Wagering and Clase/Ortiz?

Barring a “You can’t handle the truth!” courtroom moment, neither Clase nor Ortiz will ever pitch again in the Major Leagues.

This goes beyond their foolish decision to call the integrity of the game into question by intentionally throwing pitches with a preplanned outcome in mind. It extends to sports in general and its inextricable link to legalized U.S.-based betting.

The connection is like Siamese twins attached at the head with shared brain tissue, nerves, and blood vessels. It cannot be separated. Watch any sporting event. Every third advertisement is for a gambling site.

The current landscape is ripe for exploitation and rule violations.

It cannot be stopped, and the regulations seem to be written in progress.

But the one thing that cannot be tolerated is a player willfully underperforming. And that’s what Clase and Ortiz are accused of having done, with what appears to be ample evidence to prove it.

Do not expect them to confess. MLB will suspend, but not expel, them. They will have the right to apply for reinstatement, which will be summarily rejected before a word is said, like Charles Manson’s parole hearings. Sports will move on amid the pretense of vigilance…until the next scandal arises. Eventually, one is going to spark a cataclysmic scandal like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. There will be class action lawsuits (or Clase action lawsuits), and damage control will be comparable to using a teacup to bail out the water while the Titanic is sinking.

The league and the bookmakers share in the responsibility for getting the ball rolling with extreme options to bet on literally anything and everything. The players will take the fall. And of course, they should. Because extenuating circumstances aside, this was a ridiculous thing to do.