After watching the news that Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were accused of betting on their individual pitches during games take the sports world by storm, MLB and sportsbooks are coming together to make moves to severely limit the chances of it happening again.
Taking to social media to announce the new policy, worked out by the two parties, ESPN's David Payne Purdum broke down the new limits on individual pitch betting, which should, in theory, disincentivize the bet for active players.
“Prominent U.S. sportsbooks are establishing a nationwide $200 betting limit on baseball wagers centered on individual pitches and prohibiting such bets from being included in parlays in an attempt to decrease the incentive for manipulation, MLB announced Monday,” Purdum wrote.
Rob Manfred, the commissioner of MLB, commented on the decision, noting that he applauded the sports gambling industry for attempting to discourage players from making bets on their own pitches, as the financial reward should no longer be worth the risk.
“I commend the industry for working with us to take action on a national solution to address the risks posed by these pitch-level markets, which are particularly vulnerable to integrity concerns,” Rob Manfred said via Purdum.
Will this ultimately curb sports betting among active players? Considering the salaries currently being handed out by MLB teams, maybe so. But as Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. pointed out, it's a moral quandary for a player to make a small decision that could set up a friend or family member in a major way, so even under this new rule, MLB might not be out of the woods just yet.
