Mike Florio ,
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Baseball’s latest gambling scandal won’t be ending anytime soon.
Via David Purdum of ESPN.com, Major League Baseball announced on Sunday that Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz will stay on nondisciplinary paid leave “ until further notice .”
The MLB Players Association agreed to extend the paid leave, while a gambling investigation continues. Originally, the paid leave for both players was due to last until August 31.
It started after sportsbooks noticed unusual betting interest in individual pitches thrown by Ortiz in a pair of Guardians games in June 2025. There was reportedly “suspicious betting” on whether an Ortiz pitch would be a ball or whether he would hit the batter in the second inning of a June 15 game against the Seattle Mariners and in the third inning of a June 27 game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The situation is one of many potential irregularities that can arise in the realm of microbets and prop wagers. For all sports.
The NFL has avoided that type of controversy, so far. Maybe it’s a result of luck. Maybe it’s a product of looking the other way. For instance, after Falcons running back Bijan Robinson had an undisclosed illness on the day of a 2023 game against the Buccaneers, the Falcons were fined for not updating their injury report. However, the question of whether critical inside information as to Robinson’s publicly unknown limitations was shared with those who may have placed money on Robinson’s unders for the game was never mentioned.
That’s the premise of Big Shield , which focuses on a mobster who has developed a network of professional athletes to provide inside information before and during games — and on the backup quarterback who becomes ensnared in a scheme that he quickly learns he can’t escape without risking the type of injury from which recovery isn’t possible.
The novel is available in ebook form for only 99 cents . That’s cheaper than the vast majority of wagers (or anything else you can buy), and the entertainment value extends far longer than the temporary rush that comes from finding out whether that guess made on a specialized wager was right, or wrong.
Big Shield combines gambling, pro football, and the mob into a cautionary tale regarding inside information, and the dangers that come from selling it.
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