Major League Baseball said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 US and exclude them from parlays, a day after two Cleveland Guardians were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers.
MLB said Monday the limits were agreed to by sportsbook operators representing more than 98 per cent of the U.S. betting market. The league said in a statement that pitch-level bets on outcomes of pitch velocity and of balls and strikes “present heightened integrity risks because they focus on one-off events that can be determined by a single player and can be inconsequential to the outcome of the game.”
“The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct,” the league said. “The creation of a strict bet limit on this type of bet, and the ban on parlaying them, reduces the payout for these markets and the ability to circumvent the new limit.”
Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches. They were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy.
The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game, not for anyone and not for anything.” A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was unconstitutional, allowing states to legalize sports betting.
On Monday, Ortiz appeared in federal court in Boston on charges accusing him of taking bribes to help associates in his native Dominican Republic win prop bets placed on pitches he threw.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell granted Ortiz his release but with several conditions, including he surrender his passport, restrict his travel to the Northeast and post a $500,000 US bond, $50,000 of it secured. He also was ordered to avoid contact with anyone who could be viewed as a victim, witness or co-defendant in the case.
Ortiz, dressed in a pale green track suit, did not say anything in court. His lawyers declined to speak to reporters after the brief hearing.
Athletes on non-disciplinary paid leave
According to the indictment against the two unsealed Sunday, Ortiz and Clase took several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two unnamed gamblers in their home country win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of certain pitches, including some that landed in the dirt.
Emmanuel Clase, who was the Guardians’ closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB started investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when the two pitched. Some of the games in question were in April, May and June.
Ortiz, 26, was arrested Sunday by the FBI at Boston Logan International Airport. Clase, 27, is believed to be outside the U.S., according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and did so on condition of anonymity.
Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said Ortiz’s defence team previously documented for prosecutors that the payments and money transfers between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for legal activities.
MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity and has fully cooperated with authorities. “We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing,” the league said in a statement.
In a statement, the Guardians said: “We are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully co-operate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.”
In one example cited in the indictment, Clase allegedly invited a bettor to a game against the Boston Red Sox in April and spoke with him by phone just before taking the mound. Four minutes later, the indictment said, the bettor and his associates won $11,000 on a wager that Clase would toss a certain pitch slower than 97.95 miles per hour.
Clase, a three-time all-star and two-time American League reliever of the year, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a five-year, $20 million contract. The three-time AL save leader began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t ask for payoffs until this year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary this year, got in on the scheme in June and is accused of rigging pitches in games against the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals.
The charges are the latest bombshell developments in a federal crackdown on betting in professional sports.
Last month, more than 30 people, including prominent basketball figures such as Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a gambling sweep that rocked the NBA.
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