The trial for arguably the biggest baseball betting scandal since the Black Sox has begun.
asserted
trial → begin → Sox
Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, when jury selection commenced for a case in which prosecutors allege the former Guardians pitchers accepted bribes in a pitch-rigging scheme that won money for themselves and the gamblers with whom they colluded.
asserted
they → commence → whom
Clase, a three-time All-Star and standout closer, and Ortiz, a four-year starting pitcher, are accused of tipping off bettors about their intentions with specific pitches to help their conspirators rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
asserted
conspirators → accuse → dollars
The pitchers have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.
asserted
pitchers → charge → bribery
If convicted on all charges, they would face a maximum of 65 years in prison.
asserted
they → convict → prison
Among the potential witnesses listed in a court filing are Guardians executives, such as general manager Mike Chernoff; coaches, such as pitching coach Carl Willis; and players, such as catchers Austin Hedges, Mike Zunino and Bo Naylor.
asserted
executives → list → Hedges
Prosecutors have zeroed in on 18 pitches thrown from 2023-25 in which they charge Clase provided advance information to bettors about his intentions with the pitch, which would typically be delivered far outside the strike zone or they believe with a predetermined speed.
asserted
they → zero → speed
In one example from the indictment, during a May 19, 2023, game against the Mets at Citi Field, bettors allegedly won approximately $27,000 by wagering that a pitch thrown by Clase would be faster than 94.95 mph.
uncertain
pitch → win → mph
The government alleged that Clase recruited Ortiz into the scheme in 2025 and said that bettors won at least $450,000 from pitches thrown by the two teammates.
asserted
bettors → allege → teammates
According to the indictment, bettors placed “over a hundred” straight bets and parlays on Clase’s pitches.
uncertain
bettors → accord → pitches
One — a pitch in the dirt that the Dodgers’ Andy Pages swung at — resulted in a betting loss.
asserted
Pages → swing → loss
Clase was among the best relief pitchers in baseball and held a 1.88 ERA with 182 saves through six seasons, five of which were with Cleveland.
asserted
five → hold → Cleveland
Before being placed on unpaid nondisciplinary leave, Clase had been pitching on a five-year, $20 million contract on which he was set to make $6.4 million in 2025.
asserted
he → place → 2025
Ortiz was less accomplished and making $782,600 in 2025.
asserted
Ortiz → make → 2025
Ortiz unsuccessfully tried to sever his case from Clase’s, and the former’s lawyers wrote that Ortiz was “a victim of Clase’s scheme,” according to The Athletic.
uncertain
Ortiz → try → Athletic
In text messages with bettors, prosecutors say Clase would use code words such as “rooster” and “chicken.”
asserted
Clase → say → rooster
But one bettor, in a court document reported by the New York Times, said those conversations were about cockfighting, which is legal in Clase and Ortiz’s native Dominican Republic.
asserted
which → report → Clase
Lawyers for Clase also are expected to argue that there were strategic purposes for the pitches in contention to be delivered so far out of the strike zone and that the bets placed were within normal ranges.
asserted
bets → expect → ranges
“In isolation, any single pitch in the dirt can be painted as nefarious,” Clase’s attorneys wrote in a September filing, according to ESPN.
uncertain
attorneys → paint → ESPN
The Athletic cited a brief filed by Clase’s defense attorneys in which Scott Powers — a former assistant GM with the Astros — argued that “there are baseball reasons for Clase to aim his pitches outside the strike zone.”
asserted
Clase → cite → zone
Friday, Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto, who is presiding over the trial, ruled that prosecutors cannot show the jury proof that Clase owed $500,000 in U.S. taxes because they had only provided the evidence to defense lawyers several days earlier and long after a deadline had passed to turn over evidence to their adversaries.
asserted
deadline → preside → adversaries
A prosecutor had argued that the government wanted to put the evidence in the trial to offset any claim by Clase’s lawyers that he had no incentive to collude with gamblers because he had several million dollars in financial accounts in the Dominican Republic.
uncertain
he → argue → Republic
Major League Baseball and the Guardians have both said they’ve fully cooperated with authorities.
asserted
they → say → authorities
MLB has said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity.
asserted
it → say → activity
In the aftermath of the indictment, MLB announced that in conjunction with authorized gaming operations, there would now be a $200 cap on micro-betting on the pitch-level markets.
asserted
MLB → announce → markets
Those prop bets also would be excluded from parlays.
asserted
bets → exclude → parlays
The Aporia
