Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani takes his helmet off after hitting an RBI single against the Padres on Wednesday at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea.
Lee Jin-man/AP
You know a topic is touchy when people won’t give it a name.
In a story Friday about Major League Baseball’s investigation into a gambling scandal involving the most famous ballplayer on earth, ESPN didn’t mention what’s being investigated until the fifth paragraph. The opening sentence referred to it as “the matter surrounding Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.’’
The amount of tiptoeing is proportional to the number of landmines.
MLB has a problem related to its golden goose. How deep the problem is will depend on the federal investigation into Mizuhara’s reported $4.5 million in gambling debts (sports gambling is illegal in California) and baseball’s investigation into how much Ohtani knew about his interpreter’s betting. That, of course, brings into question how much MLB really wants to know, considering Ohtani is the best thing that’s happened to the game in decades.
The first hurdle in believing that Ohtani isn’t involved in illegal gambling is the size of Mizuhara’s debt to bookmakers. How was Mizuhara, who said he has made between $300,000 and $500,000 a year as Ohtani’s interpreter, allowed to get so far in arrears? It’s possible he led bookies to believe that he was backed by Ohtani. It’s also possible he was placing bets for Ohtani, although both men have denied that.
What is known is that $4.5 million was transferred from Ohtani’s bank account to an illegal bookmaking operation. How that happened presumably will be part of MLB’s investigation. Ohtani’s camp initially said he had paid off Mizuhara’s debts. A day later, a law firm representing Ohtani said he had been the victim of a “massive theft.’’ But if that were the case, who else besides Ohtani would be able to wire money from his bank account?
At best, it’s a terrible look for baseball, which has put many of its eggs in Ohtani’s basket. He’s a big-league hitter and pitcher, an incredible rarity in baseball but not as incredibly rare as being great at both, which he is. It’s why he won the American League Most Valuable Player award last season with the Angels. It’s why the Dodgers gave him a 10-year, $700 million contract in the offseason. It’s why MLB is extremely nervous.
The possibility of a superstar gambling on the game he plays is the league’s biggest fear, one that would gut a sport that is struggling to remain relevant. Major-league players are allowed to bet on other sports, provided it’s legal betting. Illegal betting on other sports would leave a mark on Ohtani and the game but not as dark a mark as gambling on baseball would.
Trust in authority gets severely tested in situations like this. It’s hard to shake the idea that, because MLB has such a loud rooting interest in Ohtani’s innocence, it won’t hear of dissent on the topic.
Many people who love the game are hoping for blamelessness on Ohtani’s part. They’re hoping for naivete, for gullibility. They’re hoping for Mizuhara’s version of the truth – that Ohtani paid off the interpreter’s debts – or for the lawyers’ version of the truth – that someone ripped off the star ballplayer. Short of that, some of them surely are rooting for MLB to sweep the whole thing under the rug.
But if Ohtani did bail out his interpreter, it means he sent money to a bookie, Matthew Bowyer, who is under investigation by the FBI. No part of that sentence is good. Not “bookie,’’ not “under investigation” and certainly not “FBI.’’
So many different entities have a financial interest in Ohtani’s success on the field that the pressure on MLB to look away will be enormous. Will media members whose companies are in bed with MLB be allowed to investigate “the matter?’’ If you’re a fan of finding the truth, the early indications are promising. ESPN’s Tisha Thompson was one of the first reporters to look into the story. ESPN pays MLB $550 million a year as part of its media-rights deal. Will the network’s talk-show hosts have the freedom going forward to question Ohtani’s role in the mess? How about Fox Sports’ hosts?
However this plays out, it will not be a referendum on sports gambling in the United States. That ship has sailed. Gambling has always been around. Now it’s dressed up and legitimate. There’s no going back because too many rich people are making too much money. The very same sports leagues that once denounced gambling now smile and nod as teams add sportsbooks to their stadiums.
This is about how much a very famous baseball player knew about an alleged crime. Think we’ll ever find out?