Called Rule 21, MLB makes it clear how players (as well as umpires, club and league officials) involved in gambling are to be disciplined. Here’s how Ohtani would be affected.
The story involving Shohei Ohtani’s former translator Ippei Mizuhara and an illegal gambling operation run by bookmaker Mathew Bowyer in Orange County, CA gets crazier by the second. Mizuhara has admitted to being $4.5 million in gambling debt and that money to pay it off came through Ohtani. The news has rocked the sports world given Major League Baseball’s history with gambling dating back as far as the 1919 White Sox scandal. Based on a particular set of rules, what happens to Ohtani is made very clear based on what is eventually discovered through both federal and MLB investigations.
Called Rule 21, MLB makes it clear how players (as well as umpires, club and league officials) involved in gambling are to be disciplined. Given that MLB and the players have a collective bargaining agreement, the MLBPA has to be made abreast of MLB’s investigation. Ohtani held a press conference on Monday in which he spoke about the incident in which he said, “On a personal note, I’m very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this,” in reference to Mizuhara allegedly accessing Ohtani’s banking information to pay off gambling debt.
Based on Rule 21, here are the four possible outcomes for Ohtani.Ohtani Is Found To Be The Victim Of Theft
What Ohtani said and how he said it is critical to what the potential outcomes are. He said nothing that would provide any wiggle room; there was no “to the best of my knowledge” or “to the best of my recollection” which would have given him some sort of leeway if involved with betting on sports through an illegal bookmaker or paying off the debt of Mizuhara.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf,” Ohtani said. “And I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
He added that until a team meeting after Game 1 of the series between the Dodgers and Padres in Seoul, South Korea, he was unaware of what was occurring with Mizuhara. “Up until that team meeting, I didn’t know that Ippei had a gambling addiction and was in debt,” Ohtani said.
Based on the current state of the investigations, Ohtani will continue to play for the Dodgers.
