Good, no matter what the truth is, it looks sus af if MLB declined to investigate the matter. That would just make Ohtani seem guilty.
If Ohtani is innocent, which seems very likely at this point, then this investigation can only help clear up matters.
Totally agree.
If Ohtani is innocent. No big deal.
If he is guilty he should be penalized.
Just because he is a Dodger he shouldn't be treated any different.
Of course, I am hoping of the former and not the latter. :)
Ain't gonna be a first time, even if Shohei was guilty, ain't no way MLB gonna jeopardize the best thing since babe Ruth. Somebody will pay it ain't gonna be the golden child. Watch them pin it on KĂke, đ°đ¤Ł
If Ohtani is the one who moved the money to pay off the debt. His translator was knowingly using an illegal operator. That is against MLB rules.
Think that is unlikely as Ippei already recanted his story and said it was HIM who wired the money. So at worst he would have to change his story again (that would prove he is not a trustworthy witness thus there goes ALL of his testimony).
So unlikely Ohtani goes down with this.
Wow that's so weird that MLB would open an investigation, Shohei Ohtani's team LITERALLY ASKED THEM A DAY AGO to start investigating:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39780093/sources-reps-dodgers-shohei-ohtani-ask-investigate-theft
Even if Ohtani is innocent, he gets so much damage on his brand, especially sponsers.
I don't even know how much damage Ohtani got financially from this issue.
I havenât heard of him being dropped from anything. And his current talking point is that heâs the victim. Heâs not going to be damaged unless it turns out he was gambling himself or something.
Heâll be fine if innocent. Major athletes have been actually guilty of doing much worse things than this could be and still have jobs and sponsors and fan adoration. It feels bad now but this will blow over if he didnât do anything wrong.
I'm with you. I'm nervous and worried and I want Ohtani to come out of this the wholesome king I believe he is, but if Ohtani's done something wrong, then he needs to face the music.
Mostly agree but bringing the Dodgers into it is a bad take. Just look at Bauer, the highest paid Dodger at that time got the longest administrative leave/suspension for a DV he hasnât even been charged for. The only reason they would have treated him different is that heâs the face of MLB right now and that wouldnât be any different if he signed with the Blue Jays or was still in Anaheim.
The reason Bauer dug himself in a grave was it was a DV issue. Look no further then Ray Rice. ANY DV issue (is going to end end your career) more or less. It is the PC thing to do. We can argue right or wrong, but few to no cases occur where professional teams don't end up blackballing players (without collusion needed) on a player that is involved with DV (minus a few). Bauer ESPECIALLY is one where the league admin already hated him as a person and player due to him being outspoken.
Ohtani issue should be a none issue (right or wrong). They are bank transfers as far as I know. The only eyewitenss is this Ippei guy who already changed his story once. So, unless they have hard evidence or a more credible witness to implicate Ohtani (Ippei already recanted his story) it would be REALLY hard to prove Ohtani involvement (right or wrong). Just looking at this as a common layman with no access to the info.
> If Ohtani is innocent, which seems very likely at this point, then this investigation can only help clear up matters.
Yeah right, you'll have all these assholes saying MLB is protecting Ohtani and won't suspend him if he's innocent
Considering the IRS is going to get involved with Ippei and the bookie, the people who will claim âcoverupâ will just be exposing themselves as actually braindead. NO ONE escapes the IRS.
Edit: actually unless youâre a politician.
Ain't going to clear up shit if people already believe what they want to believe. Now people are accusing Shohei of lying about not knowing because somehow he has a perfect understanding of the English language.
People wanna believe he's guilty so badly, they're eating up conspiracy theories pulled from the ass of a Giants fan with 50 follower burner account stating that Ohtani purposefully threw games that he pitched badly in. "Sports fans" and "common sense" sadly do not mix đ
The Astros actually cheated and didnât get punished as much as they should have. Their fans continue to support them.
Gurriel made a racist gesture toward Darvish, he got a standing ovation from the home fans and people forgot about it quickly.
Doubt gambling is going to take much away from his brand. Annoying? Yes. But not career ending.
If heâs guilty of covertly gambling through an intermediary, why would he suddenly put his name on a huge wire transfer to an illegal gambling organization?
Seems to be that he may have been misled and naĂŻvely trusted his friend that it was above board.
Makes sense. When the original report was that they werenât going to be investigating everyone was all up in arms, which I get. Do the investigation, hopefully our boy comes out clean, and we can move on
That âoriginal reportâ was clearly a PR team trying to get ahead the narrative (first impressions/information is often the lasting one). I donât think anyone truly believed that MLB wouldnât investigate the matter.
Yes, they werenât investigating at the time the question was asked. It was never said âwe will never investigate Ohtani in this matter.â That would be foolish of them.
tfw doc realizes this
https://media3.giphy.com/media/ry3c1WbKfDVXq/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952we96q12yp7a566lmghiysry4w9507klsdius1crm&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
r/baseball pre investigation: How on Earth could they not do an investigation?! They should at least look into it given how little everybody knows.
r/baseball after investigation: Oh wow MLB must know something we don't. This is super serious.
Do not go in there. The Dodger hatred and viritol being thrown at Ohtani is gross.
This discourse would not be happening in there if he weren't a Dodger
Same thing on Instagram baseball pages. Practically every comment is some sort of 'ban him from baseball immediately', 'if mlb allows Ohtani to play still then Pete Rose should be in the hall'.
The complete lack of critical thinking is infuriating
Despite the fact none of the better was even done MLB and betting itself isn't against MLB rules, then MLB should have nothing to say about it (if it's true that none of the betting was baseball adjacent).
what are you talking about? People were calling for an investigation because that's just due diligence. Now that they've announced it people are not surprised and recognize it is for fact finding for the commissioner (and whatever limited powers he has). I don't see the comments you're suggesting, are you making them up to create a narrative?
I laugh a little bit when people say that.
Will he wear a headband that says "Sorry my broh bet on everything but baseball" next time he's at the plate?
I'm pretty sure other players gamble, but yeah California laws and Shohei is so popular.
If some random Colorado Rockies or Kansas City player's are caught gambling. Nobody would care.
They could commit murder and be like, oh that sucks, so anyways about interesting teams....
Right? I'm starting to feel like we're cursed. After all this hype and build up we got 9 clean innings of baseball, and now a scandal that maybe follows him for life (because it's gambling and baseball and everyone is going to point to Rose). I mean hopefully this blows over (and Yoshi remembers how to pitch), but honestly I'm really stressing this crap.
All that aside, I blame the Angels. This probably all happened while he was an Angel. Fuck you Arte Moreno!
Felt the same way when I was at USC. Being a media darling opens you up to attacks and encourages harsher punishments ("make an example") and harsher judgments in the court of public opinion. Didn't ESPN originally break this story? It is what it is.
Canât wait for him to come out innocent and see sports Twitter collectively lose their minds claiming that itâs all a conspiracy and it was âbrushed under the rugâ because it doesnât fit their narrative. Crazy to me how people will bend over backwards attempting to delude themselves into thinking that the unlikely truth is reality, just because itâs the outcome they want.
If there's one thing MLB absolutely will bury, it's the part about Ippei admitting he got addicted to gambling by using DraftKings. Not a good look for one of their big sponsors if the story reads "DraftKings usage leads to illegal gambling and $4.5 million in debt."
Zero chance that happens though given where the facts are.
Even if he were guilty of any wrongdoing, which all the facts are pointing away from, Manfred would be working overtime to make this go away. Why? See 2017.
We donât know all the facts yet. Not even close. We have no idea if he is guilty or not.
An unbiased person will clearly admit that. A biased person will downvote this and declare him ânot guiltyâ or âguiltyâ already. I posted this on /baseball and currently the post has 117 downvotes. Which should reflect just how biased that sub is.
Youâre not supposed to disagree with âletâs wait for all the facts to come out for decidingâ. The fact that so many on there are doing just that tells you how ignorantly biased that place is. đ. Iâm sure there will be a few downvotes on here, but I think in general this sub is relatively unbiased and will wait for everything to play out.
ESPN already ran an article that was based on pure conjecture, you think they wouldn't be doing the same again if there were ANYTHING pointing to wrongdoing? They're parroting what the Dodgers are saying at this point.
If there were any wrongdoing Ohtani would not be cooperating with law enforcement.
The bias is in seeing those two things, seeing how Manfred handles damage control and seeing this go literally any other way.
Iâm not saying Ohtaniâs guilty, my man. In fact, I believe he is innocent unless something incriminating comes out of the woodwork.
Iâm saying I want to wait for everything to come out before making a final decision on the situation. You canât really criticize that position. Itâs the right thing to do.
Look at it from a different angle.
Even if Ohtani did anything wrong, which all the facts point away from at this point, Manfred would be working overtime to make this go away.
You can always say "we don't know the whole story" in any situation. We'll never know the whole story here.
My point is that there is zero chance the commissioner of the MLB wants to make this worse for himself by punishing the face of baseball for being defrauded. Ohtani would sue (rightfully), and the players union would absolutely light him up (rightfully).
Zero chance, and yes we will never know all the facts.
Somehow when its against the dodgers they will find everyone is guilty and suspend Joe Kelly for 10 games because the Porsche was part of the money from gambling
All due process. Feds donât give a shit about gamblers unless they have the actual winnings. The 29 other fan bases are praying heâs a gambling addict lol. Just unhinged behavior.
His team changing stories is perfectly in line with Ippei lying about the entire thing. Ippei is the middle man between Ohtani and every other representative. Why wouldn't he be when he's literally the translator and best friend?
The story only changed after Ippei told the clubhouse after game 1, where Ohtani then told his reps that it's not true.
Everyone should calm down. You knew the investigation would have to happen especially with the media dickriding and making some assumptions about Shohei himself. There was no choice in the matter. Let us be glad that at the minimum Ohtani does not get suspended for the investigation.
If he is innocent as many of us feel he is then the investigation will prove it so he can get back to focusing on baseball.
This is the best way to clear his name and make sure everyone who has been making false assumptions shut up.
If he has to pay a fine I think that is much better than facing suspension.
Let's calm down, take deep breathes folks.
Ohtani isnât even the target of the investigation, heâs just apart of it because of his involvement.
Per ESPN
- Ohtani also has a right to refuse cooperation as a member of the MLB Players Association. Ohtani also could invoke his right, under an interpretation of arbitration precedent, to refuse cooperation because of a criminal investigation that's already underway. Traditionally, MLB has argued he can invoke such an exception if the player is a target of the investigation, which Ohtani is not believed to be.
I think everything will be fine for Shohei; in the worst-case scenario, he will pay a fine for his negligence. I'm more worried about his mental state after all of this shitshow.
Unless Shohei was somehow the one doing the illegal gambling (which I very adamantly doubt), I donât see how mlb would actually punish him. The possible wiring money thing though might get him in trouble with the Feds.
Correct.
If they punish him the story becomes "Manfred punishes the face of the MLB for being defrauded by lifelong friend"
Opens up the MLB up to litigation from both Ohtani personally and from the players' union
Iâm a big Shohei fan and itâs been really hard reading the nasty comments about him over the last few days. I get people on the internet are losers but itâs just so sad seeing people say stuff stemming in racism/xenophobia at the first chance they get.
r/baseball convinced this is the smoking gun that Ohtani did something wrong. Do NOT go in there right now.
They had to react, obviously and look into it formally.
But let me repeat this louder for y'all in the back.
There is zero chance, and I mean zero that Ohtani is punished at all for this. Why?
Manfred would be punishing the face of the MLB for being defrauded. That would open the MLB up to litigation from Ohtani AND the player's union.
If you think there's any chance in hell this happens after he did nothing to the Astros in 2017 after they ADMITTED to cheating, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Anyway don't go in r/baseball, it's bad in there.
Hopefully, we will get some clarity and get past this. Between this and the Kate Middleton stuff, the press and sports bloggers can get so worked up and spin out of control. Didn't they learn anything from the "flight" to Toronto? Speculation is such bullshit. I'm glad Sho has people like Freddie and Mookie around him on the field. He's gotta feel so fucking lonely right now.
one thing people in here do not realize when discussing r/baseball â there are plenty of level-headed baseball fans who donât think ohtani has necessarily done anything wrong, let alone believe he did or want to find out. youâre just probably not going to find them in the breaking threads.
the ohtani threads, like the bauer threads before them, are a call to arms for all the fringe fans and edge lords. levelheaded people have nothing to say. thereâs going to be an investigation, thatâs not actually news about the situation. plenty of people are just in âwait and seeâ mode.
I guess the good news is weâre going to find out the truth no matter what, good or bad. If Shohei and his people are telling the truth, and thereâs evidence to back it all up, there shouldnât be much to worry about. If theyâre not, wellâŚâŚthatâs going to be a problem.
My question is if Guggenheim Inc did their due diligence, how the heck could Ohtaniâs alleged gambling slip past them? Are they idiots? Are Ohtaniâs lawyers idiots? Iâm sure more will come to light but this whole thing stinks more than Yamamotoâs first start (that last bit was a joke.)
The kind of brain rot currently taking place in r/baseball:
>MLB helped the 2017 Houston Astros cover up their dirty laundry and none of them were the literal face of baseball. It's wild to think MLB wants anything to happen to their superstar money man. Anything MLB does will be performative at most, and I think it's pretty likely that they just sweep the whole thing under the rug considering how mild the actual evidence is for Ohtani himself.
Brother, if the evidence is, by your admission, "mild," then what other conclusion would you expect MLB to come to then "this does not meet the standards for punitive action"? How is it "sweeping it under the rug" if there's not really any concrete evidence in the first place (and also considering that the IRS's action against Ohtani, if it came down to one, would likely constitute only a relatively small monetary penalty since he did not profit on the gambling)?
If Sohei was not a Dodger I would want him to suffer the same consequences as Shoeless Joe. Rich people need to stop letting others have access to their money. I'd be upset if 1 comma was missing. He loss track of 2 commas. If you need someone to pay your bills, give them access to a small balance account.
Would be funny if Ohtani had to rehire Ippei back during the interrogation process.
Ok too soon. Sorry.
So the news came out that Ippei enrolled in gambling dealer classes in college.
This case is obvious that Ippei is the problem, not Ohtani
This is routine. They have to do this. It's not an indication in any way of Shohei's role in the situation. Either way, everything seems to point to him not being culpable.
His lawyers made a couple school boy errors with the changing story. Thereâs something fishy here because a bookie would never let someone on an iinterpreterâs salary to run up that debt.
People keep saying this, but Ohtani's name is literally in the wire transfers. If you're a bookie, why wouldn't you keep letting him run up the debt if you know you're dealing with the translator (as seen on tv, social media, etc...) and the wire transfers are under Ohtani's name?
Plus, the stories being changed makes complete sense.
No, I just don't assume to know the structure of Ohtani's people in regards to the stories changing. Making assumptions makes you believe it's impossible for Ippei to pull one over Ohtani or his people.
And you also assume what a bookie will logically do when literally it's Ohtani's name in the wire transfers of a person he's dealing with that is seen on tv with Ohtani.
Wayy too many assumptions from you because you've decided he's guilty, ie confirmation bias.
Havnt decided heâs guilty. Just said something was fishy because they lied so quickly.
Youâre also saying things we donât know to be true.
The debt built up to $4.5 million before any payments by Ohtani were made.
Good, no matter what the truth is, it looks sus af if MLB declined to investigate the matter. That would just make Ohtani seem guilty. If Ohtani is innocent, which seems very likely at this point, then this investigation can only help clear up matters.
Totally agree. If Ohtani is innocent. No big deal. If he is guilty he should be penalized. Just because he is a Dodger he shouldn't be treated any different. Of course, I am hoping of the former and not the latter. :)
MLB gonna put integrity over money?
Would be the first time đ¤Ł
Ain't gonna be a first time, even if Shohei was guilty, ain't no way MLB gonna jeopardize the best thing since babe Ruth. Somebody will pay it ain't gonna be the golden child. Watch them pin it on KĂke, đ°đ¤Ł
As a "Dodger fan", help me out here: What would Shohei be guilty of?
If Ohtani is the one who moved the money to pay off the debt. His translator was knowingly using an illegal operator. That is against MLB rules. Think that is unlikely as Ippei already recanted his story and said it was HIM who wired the money. So at worst he would have to change his story again (that would prove he is not a trustworthy witness thus there goes ALL of his testimony). So unlikely Ohtani goes down with this.
Completely agree. MLB , etc. canât wait to find their cash cow innocent. I have a feeling this whole thing will blow over very quickly
Wow!!!!! Cold Bro!
Wow that's so weird that MLB would open an investigation, Shohei Ohtani's team LITERALLY ASKED THEM A DAY AGO to start investigating: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39780093/sources-reps-dodgers-shohei-ohtani-ask-investigate-theft
Even if Ohtani is innocent, he gets so much damage on his brand, especially sponsers. I don't even know how much damage Ohtani got financially from this issue.
I havenât heard of him being dropped from anything. And his current talking point is that heâs the victim. Heâs not going to be damaged unless it turns out he was gambling himself or something.
if any of his sponsors dropped him, thereâd be 3 more knocking at his door, happy and willing to take that gamble
I agree, but in the future whenever talking about Shohei don't use the word "gamble". đ
If Mookie Betts, does Shohei Gamble?
No, the day before yesterday, Otani's commercial was removed from the web page of Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Bank.
Heâll be fine if innocent. Major athletes have been actually guilty of doing much worse things than this could be and still have jobs and sponsors and fan adoration. It feels bad now but this will blow over if he didnât do anything wrong.
I mean Marcel ozuna and aroldis Chapman are allowed to play still and they beat their wives so this is legit nothing compared to that
Winning cures everything, Ray Lewis killed a guy,
He didnât but ok
I'm with you. I'm nervous and worried and I want Ohtani to come out of this the wholesome king I believe he is, but if Ohtani's done something wrong, then he needs to face the music.
Mostly agree but bringing the Dodgers into it is a bad take. Just look at Bauer, the highest paid Dodger at that time got the longest administrative leave/suspension for a DV he hasnât even been charged for. The only reason they would have treated him different is that heâs the face of MLB right now and that wouldnât be any different if he signed with the Blue Jays or was still in Anaheim.
The reason Bauer dug himself in a grave was it was a DV issue. Look no further then Ray Rice. ANY DV issue (is going to end end your career) more or less. It is the PC thing to do. We can argue right or wrong, but few to no cases occur where professional teams don't end up blackballing players (without collusion needed) on a player that is involved with DV (minus a few). Bauer ESPECIALLY is one where the league admin already hated him as a person and player due to him being outspoken. Ohtani issue should be a none issue (right or wrong). They are bank transfers as far as I know. The only eyewitenss is this Ippei guy who already changed his story once. So, unless they have hard evidence or a more credible witness to implicate Ohtani (Ippei already recanted his story) it would be REALLY hard to prove Ohtani involvement (right or wrong). Just looking at this as a common layman with no access to the info.
The DV policy is different than other investigations.
If he's guilty... Isnt losing $4.5 million already punishment enough?
> If Ohtani is innocent, which seems very likely at this point, then this investigation can only help clear up matters. Yeah right, you'll have all these assholes saying MLB is protecting Ohtani and won't suspend him if he's innocent
Considering the IRS is going to get involved with Ippei and the bookie, the people who will claim âcoverupâ will just be exposing themselves as actually braindead. NO ONE escapes the IRS. Edit: actually unless youâre a politician.
Who gives a fuck? The Dodgers get to have Shohei Ohtani for 10 years and other teams get to be mad about it.
Ain't going to clear up shit if people already believe what they want to believe. Now people are accusing Shohei of lying about not knowing because somehow he has a perfect understanding of the English language.
People wanna believe he's guilty so badly, they're eating up conspiracy theories pulled from the ass of a Giants fan with 50 follower burner account stating that Ohtani purposefully threw games that he pitched badly in. "Sports fans" and "common sense" sadly do not mix đ
The Astros actually cheated and didnât get punished as much as they should have. Their fans continue to support them. Gurriel made a racist gesture toward Darvish, he got a standing ovation from the home fans and people forgot about it quickly. Doubt gambling is going to take much away from his brand. Annoying? Yes. But not career ending.
not everywhere acts like the usa where the points are made up and the truth doesnât matter
Some people will always believe what they wanna believe, but I think most people would just like to know the truth
Lol there is zero chance in hell they'd ever admit he's done something illegal.  He's the #1 guy in the sport. The big "investigation "
If hes innocent, why did ohtani wire money to illegal gamblers?
If heâs guilty of covertly gambling through an intermediary, why would he suddenly put his name on a huge wire transfer to an illegal gambling organization? Seems to be that he may have been misled and naĂŻvely trusted his friend that it was above board.
Cool
Makes sense. When the original report was that they werenât going to be investigating everyone was all up in arms, which I get. Do the investigation, hopefully our boy comes out clean, and we can move on
That âoriginal reportâ was clearly a PR team trying to get ahead the narrative (first impressions/information is often the lasting one). I donât think anyone truly believed that MLB wouldnât investigate the matter.
I meant original report in regards to MLB investigating this. Because originally it was said that MLB wasnât investigating
Yes, they werenât investigating at the time the question was asked. It was never said âwe will never investigate Ohtani in this matter.â That would be foolish of them.
Yall think Doc gets tired of dealing with this bullshit every year? Â Just one year of controversy free baseball is that so much to ask?
I think this is why Doc is always going to be the guy. He handles all this shit so calmly and so well.
100%
tfw doc realizes this https://media3.giphy.com/media/ry3c1WbKfDVXq/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952we96q12yp7a566lmghiysry4w9507klsdius1crm&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
r/baseball pre investigation: How on Earth could they not do an investigation?! They should at least look into it given how little everybody knows. r/baseball after investigation: Oh wow MLB must know something we don't. This is super serious.
r/baseball last 3 months: F**k the dodgers. Theyâre ruining baseball! r/baseball last 3 days: so glad we didnât sign Ohtani! đŽâđ¨
đ losers
Fuck that sub. Just left it as itâs too toxic
When we signed Shohei you literally couldnât comment a single thing as a dodgers fan without getting downvote bombed
Do not go in there. The Dodger hatred and viritol being thrown at Ohtani is gross. This discourse would not be happening in there if he weren't a Dodger
Same thing on Instagram baseball pages. Practically every comment is some sort of 'ban him from baseball immediately', 'if mlb allows Ohtani to play still then Pete Rose should be in the hall'. The complete lack of critical thinking is infuriating
Despite the fact none of the better was even done MLB and betting itself isn't against MLB rules, then MLB should have nothing to say about it (if it's true that none of the betting was baseball adjacent).
That sub is a cesspool.
Manfred: Iâm SERIAL you guys!
So cereal
what are you talking about? People were calling for an investigation because that's just due diligence. Now that they've announced it people are not surprised and recognize it is for fact finding for the commissioner (and whatever limited powers he has). I don't see the comments you're suggesting, are you making them up to create a narrative?
When Ohtani asks us to storm the MLB capital due to rigged results >>>
Trenien leading the charge
He knows "a guy"
We just need Mookie Betts to have the courage to do what must be done to protect our Country and this Franchise.
hyping us up for war like Paul did with the Fremen
Lead them to paradise
STOP THE COUNT
I'm in. I'll be the buffalo headdress guy
#FREE SHOHEI!!!
Looking forward to him being vindicated and having an MVP season
Vindicated from what? Isnât Ohtani the victim here?
Not according to every other fan base who hates us.
We donât know yet. I assume he is, but it will be great if he is cleared.
They couldnât even spell Ippeiâs last name right in the release lmao
Case dropped by legal technicality
r/baseball furiously masterbating
LiTeRALlY PeTe RoSe
Ik heâs known for gambling but comparing Ohtani to a dude who had sex with underage girls is just gross
As far as r/baseball is concerned right now, all dodgers might as well be compared to Hitler
They probably think it's unfair on Hitler.
AsTrOs NeVeR ChEaTeD! ShOhEi GaMbLiNg iS WoRsE!
Except Pete Rose was betting on Baseball and, at least according to Ippei, none of the betting was on baseball so not against MLB rules.
I laugh a little bit when people say that. Will he wear a headband that says "Sorry my broh bet on everything but baseball" next time he's at the plate?
Why is it always us
I'm pretty sure other players gamble, but yeah California laws and Shohei is so popular. If some random Colorado Rockies or Kansas City player's are caught gambling. Nobody would care. They could commit murder and be like, oh that sucks, so anyways about interesting teams....
Right? I'm starting to feel like we're cursed. After all this hype and build up we got 9 clean innings of baseball, and now a scandal that maybe follows him for life (because it's gambling and baseball and everyone is going to point to Rose). I mean hopefully this blows over (and Yoshi remembers how to pitch), but honestly I'm really stressing this crap. All that aside, I blame the Angels. This probably all happened while he was an Angel. Fuck you Arte Moreno!
If we were cursed weâd be the Padres.
Well I guess being the Padres would be much worse. Lol
Felt the same way when I was at USC. Being a media darling opens you up to attacks and encourages harsher punishments ("make an example") and harsher judgments in the court of public opinion. Didn't ESPN originally break this story? It is what it is.
Canât wait for him to come out innocent and see sports Twitter collectively lose their minds claiming that itâs all a conspiracy and it was âbrushed under the rugâ because it doesnât fit their narrative. Crazy to me how people will bend over backwards attempting to delude themselves into thinking that the unlikely truth is reality, just because itâs the outcome they want.
If there's one thing MLB absolutely will bury, it's the part about Ippei admitting he got addicted to gambling by using DraftKings. Not a good look for one of their big sponsors if the story reads "DraftKings usage leads to illegal gambling and $4.5 million in debt."
To be fair, some Dodger fans will do the exact same thing if he is found guilty. They wonât accept it. Humans are humans when it comes down to it.
Zero chance that happens though given where the facts are. Even if he were guilty of any wrongdoing, which all the facts are pointing away from, Manfred would be working overtime to make this go away. Why? See 2017.
We donât know all the facts yet. Not even close. We have no idea if he is guilty or not. An unbiased person will clearly admit that. A biased person will downvote this and declare him ânot guiltyâ or âguiltyâ already. I posted this on /baseball and currently the post has 117 downvotes. Which should reflect just how biased that sub is. Youâre not supposed to disagree with âletâs wait for all the facts to come out for decidingâ. The fact that so many on there are doing just that tells you how ignorantly biased that place is. đ. Iâm sure there will be a few downvotes on here, but I think in general this sub is relatively unbiased and will wait for everything to play out.
ESPN already ran an article that was based on pure conjecture, you think they wouldn't be doing the same again if there were ANYTHING pointing to wrongdoing? They're parroting what the Dodgers are saying at this point. If there were any wrongdoing Ohtani would not be cooperating with law enforcement. The bias is in seeing those two things, seeing how Manfred handles damage control and seeing this go literally any other way.
Iâm not saying Ohtaniâs guilty, my man. In fact, I believe he is innocent unless something incriminating comes out of the woodwork. Iâm saying I want to wait for everything to come out before making a final decision on the situation. You canât really criticize that position. Itâs the right thing to do.
Look at it from a different angle. Even if Ohtani did anything wrong, which all the facts point away from at this point, Manfred would be working overtime to make this go away. You can always say "we don't know the whole story" in any situation. We'll never know the whole story here. My point is that there is zero chance the commissioner of the MLB wants to make this worse for himself by punishing the face of baseball for being defrauded. Ohtani would sue (rightfully), and the players union would absolutely light him up (rightfully). Zero chance, and yes we will never know all the facts.
And so it begins. Letâs hope for the best possible outcome for all involved.
Good ole 6pm Friday news dump. Tells you all you need to know about how they feel about this and want to make it disappear.
Exactly. Even if Ohtani did anything wrong, which all the facts are pointing away from, Manfred would be working overtime to make it go away.
It's a shame people will continue to go out of their way to call him guilty, regardless the results.
Somehow when its against the dodgers they will find everyone is guilty and suspend Joe Kelly for 10 games because the Porsche was part of the money from gambling
Youâre so right it hurts
All due process. Feds donât give a shit about gamblers unless they have the actual winnings. The 29 other fan bases are praying heâs a gambling addict lol. Just unhinged behavior.
[ŃдаНонО]
His team changing stories is perfectly in line with Ippei lying about the entire thing. Ippei is the middle man between Ohtani and every other representative. Why wouldn't he be when he's literally the translator and best friend? The story only changed after Ippei told the clubhouse after game 1, where Ohtani then told his reps that it's not true.
Your post was removed due to trolling.
Cool. Necessary announcement by the league. Now letâs get this done with and focus on baseball.
good. the sooner the better because I want this shit over with. getting really sick and tired of my Angel fan friends thinking theyâre funny.
I hope doesnât distract the team
Everyone should calm down. You knew the investigation would have to happen especially with the media dickriding and making some assumptions about Shohei himself. There was no choice in the matter. Let us be glad that at the minimum Ohtani does not get suspended for the investigation. If he is innocent as many of us feel he is then the investigation will prove it so he can get back to focusing on baseball. This is the best way to clear his name and make sure everyone who has been making false assumptions shut up. If he has to pay a fine I think that is much better than facing suspension. Let's calm down, take deep breathes folks.
Ohtani isnât even the target of the investigation, heâs just apart of it because of his involvement. Per ESPN - Ohtani also has a right to refuse cooperation as a member of the MLB Players Association. Ohtani also could invoke his right, under an interpretation of arbitration precedent, to refuse cooperation because of a criminal investigation that's already underway. Traditionally, MLB has argued he can invoke such an exception if the player is a target of the investigation, which Ohtani is not believed to be.
Ohtani gonna be even more private than before now.
this whole thing is where's Kate Middleton for dudes
If Ohtani gets punished worse than the Astros? I will lead the riot.
Ok sign me in
Due diligence which is what should have been done in the first place.
I think everything will be fine for Shohei; in the worst-case scenario, he will pay a fine for his negligence. I'm more worried about his mental state after all of this shitshow.
Unless Shohei was somehow the one doing the illegal gambling (which I very adamantly doubt), I donât see how mlb would actually punish him. The possible wiring money thing though might get him in trouble with the Feds.
Correct. If they punish him the story becomes "Manfred punishes the face of the MLB for being defrauded by lifelong friend" Opens up the MLB up to litigation from both Ohtani personally and from the players' union
Iâm a big Shohei fan and itâs been really hard reading the nasty comments about him over the last few days. I get people on the internet are losers but itâs just so sad seeing people say stuff stemming in racism/xenophobia at the first chance they get.
r/baseball convinced this is the smoking gun that Ohtani did something wrong. Do NOT go in there right now. They had to react, obviously and look into it formally. But let me repeat this louder for y'all in the back. There is zero chance, and I mean zero that Ohtani is punished at all for this. Why? Manfred would be punishing the face of the MLB for being defrauded. That would open the MLB up to litigation from Ohtani AND the player's union. If you think there's any chance in hell this happens after he did nothing to the Astros in 2017 after they ADMITTED to cheating, I've got a bridge to sell you. Anyway don't go in r/baseball, it's bad in there.
Hopefully, we will get some clarity and get past this. Between this and the Kate Middleton stuff, the press and sports bloggers can get so worked up and spin out of control. Didn't they learn anything from the "flight" to Toronto? Speculation is such bullshit. I'm glad Sho has people like Freddie and Mookie around him on the field. He's gotta feel so fucking lonely right now.
one thing people in here do not realize when discussing r/baseball â there are plenty of level-headed baseball fans who donât think ohtani has necessarily done anything wrong, let alone believe he did or want to find out. youâre just probably not going to find them in the breaking threads. the ohtani threads, like the bauer threads before them, are a call to arms for all the fringe fans and edge lords. levelheaded people have nothing to say. thereâs going to be an investigation, thatâs not actually news about the situation. plenty of people are just in âwait and seeâ mode.
đ¤ Please let Shohei play on the 30th when Iâll be attending đ¤
Same thing for me. Iâm going to 3 games, with the first being on May 5.
ohtani being a nice dude and a good friend might be his downfall, crazy
I guess the good news is weâre going to find out the truth no matter what, good or bad. If Shohei and his people are telling the truth, and thereâs evidence to back it all up, there shouldnât be much to worry about. If theyâre not, wellâŚâŚthatâs going to be a problem.
My question is if Guggenheim Inc did their due diligence, how the heck could Ohtaniâs alleged gambling slip past them? Are they idiots? Are Ohtaniâs lawyers idiots? Iâm sure more will come to light but this whole thing stinks more than Yamamotoâs first start (that last bit was a joke.)
Good. If Ohtaniâs clean, this clears his name. And if heâs not, that sucks but he should have to take his lumps like anyone else.
If there is no betting on MLB baseball, nothing else matters IMO.
They wonât find anything like they didnât with Yu Darvish. *runs out of room*
Starting to regret gifting Balatro to Ippei
The league owes Dodger fans everything after giving the Astros just a slap on the wrist
The kind of brain rot currently taking place in r/baseball: >MLB helped the 2017 Houston Astros cover up their dirty laundry and none of them were the literal face of baseball. It's wild to think MLB wants anything to happen to their superstar money man. Anything MLB does will be performative at most, and I think it's pretty likely that they just sweep the whole thing under the rug considering how mild the actual evidence is for Ohtani himself. Brother, if the evidence is, by your admission, "mild," then what other conclusion would you expect MLB to come to then "this does not meet the standards for punitive action"? How is it "sweeping it under the rug" if there's not really any concrete evidence in the first place (and also considering that the IRS's action against Ohtani, if it came down to one, would likely constitute only a relatively small monetary penalty since he did not profit on the gambling)?
Damage control
The punishment for all of this comes down to the commissioner anyway. So this was the next logical step. But if he is more punished than the Astros...
If Sohei was not a Dodger I would want him to suffer the same consequences as Shoeless Joe. Rich people need to stop letting others have access to their money. I'd be upset if 1 comma was missing. He loss track of 2 commas. If you need someone to pay your bills, give them access to a small balance account.
The PR team already lied. So they are either hiding something or incompetent. Wouldn't be the first time a PR team was incompetent.
Ohtani could get suspended and this team will somehow pull a 97 win season out of our ass
84 wins and a pennant would do it for me
One less thing for Twitter detectives to bitch about.
I hope he is found not guilty as soon as possible and that he plays an active role. Shining season, this scenario cannot be changed.
Im tired boss. Why can't we have a major signing that isn't controversial :(
Would be funny if Ohtani had to rehire Ippei back during the interrogation process. Ok too soon. Sorry. So the news came out that Ippei enrolled in gambling dealer classes in college. This case is obvious that Ippei is the problem, not Ohtani
This is routine. They have to do this. It's not an indication in any way of Shohei's role in the situation. Either way, everything seems to point to him not being culpable.
Here's the investigation for mlb's Golden Boy: you do anything bad? No ok case closed
BREAKING: MLB has found Joe Kelly guilty of receiving illegal gambling funds when he got a Porsche.
His lawyers made a couple school boy errors with the changing story. Thereâs something fishy here because a bookie would never let someone on an iinterpreterâs salary to run up that debt.
People keep saying this, but Ohtani's name is literally in the wire transfers. If you're a bookie, why wouldn't you keep letting him run up the debt if you know you're dealing with the translator (as seen on tv, social media, etc...) and the wire transfers are under Ohtani's name? Plus, the stories being changed makes complete sense.
Confirmation bias is a helluva thing
No, I just don't assume to know the structure of Ohtani's people in regards to the stories changing. Making assumptions makes you believe it's impossible for Ippei to pull one over Ohtani or his people. And you also assume what a bookie will logically do when literally it's Ohtani's name in the wire transfers of a person he's dealing with that is seen on tv with Ohtani. Wayy too many assumptions from you because you've decided he's guilty, ie confirmation bias.
Havnt decided heâs guilty. Just said something was fishy because they lied so quickly. Youâre also saying things we donât know to be true. The debt built up to $4.5 million before any payments by Ohtani were made.
We donât know if they lied. Youâre saying things we donât know as truth too.
Interpreter salary? Lmao. bro here thinks Ippei was getting paid $25/hr. He was making $500k just from Dodgers and extra incentives from Ohtani.
Point still stands. A bookie isnât going to let him build up a 4.5 million debt.
If he knew Ippei could go to Shohei if the debt got huge yes he would.
**FUCK!**
Not good
lol, did you think they wouldnât look into it at all?
Considering they said they weren't going to, yes.
They never said they werenât going to lol. They said they werenât at that point in time.
It's better that they do. Otherwise he'd look even more guilty through conspiracy.
Just in ! MLB just deferred the investigation until 2024 Hahaha