The tranquility of baseball’s summer rhythm has been shattered by a thunderclap of scandal—one that strikes not at the fringes of the game but its very core. Emmanuel Clase, the Cleveland Guardians’ All-Star closer, and fellow pitcher Luis Ortiz stand accused in a federal indictment that threatens to redefine the boundaries of corruption in modern sports.
The allegations? That they helped rig their own games, manipulating outcomes of prop bets in coordination with co-conspirators who wagered on the very pitches they threw.
According to the New York Post, Ortiz was arrested this past Sunday. Clase, though not yet in custody, is under the same cloud of suspicion. The indictment outlines a calculated scheme: the pitchers allegedly prearranged certain pitch selections with their associates, who then placed hundreds of bets based on that insider information.
These weren’t vague suspicions or vague statistical anomalies. The feds say this was precise, intentional, and lucrative—for all the wrong people.
Emmanuel Clase has been indicted for allegedly accepting $5,000 and $7,000 to have teammate Luis Ortiz intentionally throw balls in MLB games.
He is on a $20 million contract. pic.twitter.com/QFOMHWlsV2
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 9, 2025
Clase is said to have begun participating in this conspiracy as early as May 2023. Kickbacks and bribes allegedly followed. Ortiz, a newer addition to the plot, is accused of joining the scheme in June 2025. Both men now face a daunting array of federal charges, including money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery—a slate that reads less like a sports headline and more like a RICO case file.
Major League Baseball had previously placed both players on leave in July as whispers of gambling violations turned into a full-fledged investigation. Now, the whispers have become thunder.
These indictments also emerge in the wake of another major sports gambling bombshell—this one detonating in the NBA. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a revered Hall of Famer, was arrested for alleged involvement in a similar scheme. Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier followed soon after.
As the legal process unfolds, the Guardians, the NBA, and sports fans at large must reckon with a chilling truth: if the lines between competition and corruption can blur this easily, then what, exactly, are we really watching?
