Last week, an interesting, but important piece of news came across social media feeds.
It was about Major League Baseball’s international darling, Shohei Ohtani, being involved in a gambling scandal. The original story was that his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, admitted in an interview that he had been $4 million in the hole to a Los Angeles bookie and that Ohtani paid off his debt.
Mizuhara originally told ESPN that Ohtani wired money to the bookie, Mathew Bowyer – already being investigated by the FBI – to cover his debt. Then, a second story came out that was way different than Mizuhara’s account. The second story, told by Ohtani’s attorneys, is that the MVP player was the victim of theft. They alleged Mizuhara stole the $4 million from Ohtani.
Mizuhara also performed a complete 180 on his original story, telling ESPN that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling debts and the superstar had not transferred money to the LA bookie.
That’s where the story gets juicy and where I have many questions. Why did Mizuhara admit his large amount of debt at all, and why did he then say Ohtani paid off his debt just to recant his story? And if Mizuhara did steal the money, how did Ohtani or anybody with access to his bank account not notice the money was gone? I know $4 million may be chump change to a guy like Ohtani, but come on, it’s still a lot of cash.
A more interesting take: is Mizuhara the fall guy and Ohtani the real person with the gambling debt? Regardless, Mizuhara has already been fired from the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and by MLB.
Maybe, when the FBI did allegedly catch wind of a wire transfer to the bookie, did Ohtani’s camp realize it had been caught? And knowing of the superstar’s possible transgressions, then use Mizuhara as bait?
All of these theories have been running through my head for the past few days. No matter how it goes, now the FBI, MLB, and IRS are investigating and as MLB kicks off its official Opening Day this week, I am pleased to know, as an Atlanta fan, that the Dodgers have this distraction.
If Ohtani is innocent, I genuinely feel bad for him, especially since he’s done nothing wrong in the public eye up to this point. He’s a generational talent who has helped grow the game of baseball, which I love.
However, if he is involved, I am sure he will punished accordingly. If it’s found out he bet on baseball, by the MLB’s own rules he will be exiled, and rightfully so. But either way, it’s a win-win for me because I know this won’t go away fast for the Dodgers.
And seriously, I want them to lose as much as possible.