DOJ: “Strike Three you are out.”

By: Jacob Giotto, Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Would you rather receive: A) $5,000 now; or, B) $20,000,000 in 5 years? Now, a sweetener: if you pick option A you have a chance you will go to prison for 65 years and if you go with B, you have a chance to earn another $20,000,000 million 5 years later. Which option would you choose?

On Sunday, two Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz, were indicted on charges stemming from gambling.^[1] Clase allegedly was taking kickbacks of $5,000 at a time.^[2] He now faces up to 65 years in federal prison.^[3] The Department of Justice (DOJ) is charging both Clase and Ortiz with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy.^[4] The allegations are that Clase manipulated pitch outcomes (i.e., whether he would throw balls or strikes, how fast each pitch would be) to gamblers’ benefit.^[5]

Clase began his MLB career in 2019 with the Texas Rangers, before being traded to the Cleveland Guardians in 2020.^[6] He first appeared on the mound for the team in 2021, after a one-year suspension for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.^[7] Over the last five years, Clase made a name for himself as one of the most dominant closing pitchers in the MLB.^[8] Currently, with 360 innings pitched, Clase’s earned run average (ERA) sits at 1.88.^[9] ERA is the preeminent statistic for MLB pitchers, which denotes the average amount of runs scored when a pitcher is pitching. ^[10] In 2024, Clase posted one of the lowest ERA’s in the history of the league for pitchers with more than 70 innings pitched in 2024.^[11]

As a result of his success, he was selected to three-consecutive all-star games beginning in 2022.^[12] The Dominican pitcher was set to earn $4.9 million this season, $6.4 million next season, and potential earnings of $20,000,000 over the next three seasons.^[13]

The MLB believes the fact that they caught Clase and Ortiz is evidence the system is working.^[14] The MLB has strict protocols surrounding this issue. One guardrail is that sportsbooks are required to notify the MLB, and other sports leagues, if they see something out of the ordinary on their services.^[15]

These reports come just a few weeks after the National Basketball Association learned of their own league-wide sports betting conspiracy.^[16] So, is the system really working? Are these calls for concern for national sports in the United States? The U.S. sports betting industry reported revenue of $13.7 billion last year.^[17] And the youthful, goliath sports betting market is continuing to grow.^[18]

Moreover, Cleveland sports fans are calling for their starting quarterback to be investigated.^[19] Following the Cleveland Browns sixth loss of the season, fans saw Dillion Gabriel’s missed “wide open” receivers and poor pocket maneuvering, possible evidence that he was perhaps involved in his own racketeering scheme.^[20] The National Football League and the Cleveland Browns have yet to acknowledge the fans’ outcries.

If these reports are true, then Steelers fans may want Aaron Rodgers investigated following his meltdown on Sunday night versus the Los Angeles Chargers.^[21] Whether these reports have any teeth is still unclear. What is certain, however, is that the DOJ must keep their sling shot in close range.

Cleveland sports cannot catch a break. LeBron deceiving his fans one week, two starting pitchers selling out the next week, and the Browns are the worst team in the AFC North, again.^[22]

[1] https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-gambling-scandal-prop-bets-clase-ortiz-guardians/

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/claseem01.shtml

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6807847/2025/11/17/emmanuel-clase-pitch-rigging-explainer/

[12] Id.