MLB commissioner vows to cooperate with Senate gambling investigation

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said on Wednesday that the league will cooperate with a US Senate committee request for documents detailing gambling investigations.

“We will respond fully, cooperatively and in a timely manner to the Senate investigation,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.

The sport was rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who were accused of helping gamblers by receiving bribes to rig the stadiums.

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Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred requesting the information by Dec. 5.

The committee requests a response to six questions by December 5th.

1. “How and when was MLB informed of suspicious betting and game-fixing activities by Emanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide sufficient documentation to support your response?”
2. “Provide sufficient documentation to show MLB policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or affiliated team players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
3. “Include any investigation into MLB players, affiliated teams, coaches, employees, or owners for violations of MLB rules regarding sports betting, gambling, game rigging, or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
4. “Provide all documents related to any investigation included in response to Request 3, including: procedures and policies used to conduct any related investigation; documents received by third parties or collected by MLB during any related investigation; and findings, conclusions and actions taken as a result of any related investigation.”
5. The procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
6. Documents received by third parties or collected by MLB during any related investigation; and
7. The findings, conclusions and actions taken as a result of any related investigation.”
8. “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or reported sports bets: placed by MLB players or an affiliated team, or its coaches, employees, or owners; or placed on MLB games or proposals regarding MLB games, players, or teams.”
9. are placed by MLB players, affiliated teams, coaches, employees, or owners; or
10. It is placed on MLB games or proposals related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
11. “Explain to what extent MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game fraud that occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to review its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to review or enforce its rules regarding mobile phone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure that relationships between players, employees, coaches, and owners do not exist.”
12. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures or enforcement structure;
13. How, if at all, MLB plans to review or enforce its rules regarding cell phone use during games; and
14. How MLB plans to ensure there are no ties between players, employees, coaches, owners and organized crime.

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators would cap bets on individual stadiums at $200 and exclude them from bonuses.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and banning bonuses from them are a really important change that will reduce the incentive for anyone to participate in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

MLB ditches new betting limit after Cleveland pitchers accused in gambling scheme

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into Cleveland pitchers did not have a timeline. Ortiz was placed on paid leave on July 3 and Classy on July 28.

“We believe we should take advantage of the furlough period to ensure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said.

Both Ortiz and Callas have pleaded not guilty.

Klaas and Ortiz are arrested He appeared in federal court in New York last week. Klass, a three-time All-Star, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers make money at his stadiums. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

From May 2023 to June 2025, Klass agreed with a co-conspirator to “place specific offers on certain MLB games” so that bettors he allegedly partnered with “could profit from illegal bets made based on that inside information,” officials said in the indictment. Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.

The indictment said Klass conferred with a bettor to throw the ball on the first pitch of a batter when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment cited instances in specific games, including the May 19, 2023, vs New York Mets; June 2, 2023 vs. Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023 against the Boston Red Sox.

Klass allegedly began requesting and receiving bribes and payments in exchange for agreeing to throw specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one case, the indictment said, Klass used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on which pitch he would throw.

Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.

When Ortiz joined the scheme, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks, the indictment said. He allegedly agreed to throw the ball on June 15 against the team Seattle Mariners For about $5,000 in his first show of the second half.

The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw his first pitch in the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.

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The indictment was announced three weeks later NBA The numbers were swept in FBI Operations involving illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among more than two dozen people arrested in the scheme.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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