Seemingly in response to former Cleveland Guardians teammates Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz being indicted by federal prosecutors for their roles in an alleged scheme to rig bets on individual pitches thrown, MLB and its sportsbook partners have created new safeguards.
“Since the Supreme Court decision opened the door to legalized sports betting, Major League Baseball has continuously worked with industry and regulatory stakeholders across the country to uphold our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
“I commend Ohio Governor DeWine for his leadership on this issue over the last several months. I also commend the industry for working with us to take action on a national solution to address the risks posed by these pitch-level markets, which are particularly vulnerable to integrity concerns.
“We look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders, including licensed sports betting operators, elected officials and regulators, to ensure we are always protecting the integrity of our game.”
The United States Department of Justice charged Clase and Ortiz with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy.
Christian Genetski, president of FanDuel, which is an official sportsbook partner of MLB, said, “The legalized sports betting industry is built on a foundation of dialogue and collaboration with our league partners and the states in which we operate.
“This initiative illustrates our unwavering commitment to building a legal and regulated market that roots out abuses by those who seek to undermine fair competition and damage the integrity of the games we love.”
In February of this year, MLB fired umpire Pat Hoberg due to his failure to uphold the integrity of the game by sharing sports betting accounts with a professional poker player and friend who bet on baseball.
MLB determined Hoberg should have known about the betting on baseball, and he was fired due to his intentional deletion of messages central to the league’s investigation into the conduct.
MLB implements limit on pitching prop bets
Effective immediately, all MLB authorized gaming operators will cap wagers at $200 on pitch-level markets and exclude those bets from parlays.
The new measures, which were implemented across sportsbook operators representing more than 98% of the United States betting market, are intended to mitigate integrity risks, and maintain transparency and data access benefits that the regulated sports betting market provides.
Most prop bets present limited integrity risk because they are centered around multiple events that are influenced by more than one participant. However, “micro-bet” pitch-level markets (such as ball/strike, and pitch velocity) 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 Department of Justice alleged Clase coordinated with co-conspirators by throwing rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat. Such pitches were typically outside the strike zone and at times bounced in the dirt, to further ensure it would not be called a strike.
One such effort is said to have gone awry against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 2025 season due to Andy Pages aggressively swinging out of the zone.
Clase is alleged to have received “bribes and kickbacks from the bettors,” and “sometimes provided money to the bettors in advance to fund the scheme,” according to court documents.
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