It's worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and the game's manipulation ended the player's life
Nov 10, 2025
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Cleveland Guardians closer Emanuel Clase, a three-time American League winner, and another pitcher Luis Ortiz have been indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors on charges related to illegal sports betting. Multiple U.S. media, including 'ESPN', reported related news on the 10th (hereinafter referred to as Korean time).
According to the federal prosecutor's indictment, the two men face charges of fraud, conspiracy and bribery over a pitch-rigging scheme that led to illegal gamblers earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ortiz was arrested in Boston on the morning of the 9th local time and is scheduled to appear in court on the 10th. Clase has not yet been detained.
Looking more closely at the indictment released through 'ESPN', Clase has taken a way of conspiring with gamblers since May 2023 and throwing 'ball' in certain situations, resulting in a monetary payment. Ortiz has joined the initiative since June 2025. Gamblers bet at least $450,000 between the two, and the two received rebates.
In particular, Clase's manipulation of the game, which has been considered the best closing pitcher in the American League for three consecutive years, is an all-time shock. He was selected three times only as an All-Star, and it was believed that if he was qualified as an FA, he would be able to easily win a contract worth hundreds of billions of won.
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Clase, for example, delivered information against the New York Mets on May 20, 2023, that he would throw a ball faster than 94.95 miles and the gambler who bet on it won $27,000.
A few weeks later, a slider slower than 94.95 miles was thrown in front of the home plate, allowing the gambler to win $38,000.
Ortiz, who moved to Cleveland through a trade in December 2024, began getting involved in June of this year on Clase's offer. Instead of throwing the first pitch in the second inning, he decided to get $5,000 from Clase.
The two were caught in July and were placed on paid leave as of August 1. However, since he was indicted by the prosecution, if convicted, he is likely to be permanently expelled.
According to prosecutors, Clase and Ortiz could face up to 65 years in prison, including up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit fraud, up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit fraud, 20 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering and five years for conspiracy to influence sporting events due to bribery.
Ortiz's lawyer denied the allegations, saying "Our client has never and will not have had an inappropriate impact on anyone, on anything, and Clase's lawyer has yet to comment.
Meanwhile, Clase earned a total of $12 million (about 17.5 billion won) while playing in the big leagues for seven seasons, and his annual salary next season was scheduled to be $6.4 million (about 9.4 billion won). The prevailing prediction was that if he qualified as an FA, his ransom would be hundreds of billions of won, the highest amount among closer pitchers. In the case of Ortiz, who has relatively little career, this year's annual salary was $782,6 million (about 1.2 billion won).
However, he was on the verge of being kicked out of the Major League due to his disgrace.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
