In light of the high-profile scandal involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanual Clase and Luis Ortiz, who were charged with manipulating their performance to take advantage of betting lines, the MLB is implementing preventative measures in the form of betting caps.[1] These caps, which seek to prevent situations like this from happening again, cap bets related to pitching at $200.[2] In its official statement, the MLB is justifying the cap on the basis that the cap will reduce the risk of bet manipulation, stating “The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct…the creation of a strict bet limit on this type of bet, and the ban on parlaying them, reduces the payout for these markets and the ability to circumvent the new limit.”[3] In practice, these caps will apply to specific pitch level wagers which are the most prone to manipulation such as ball/strike, pitch velocity, pitch type, etc.
While the cap reduces the risk, it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. While the MLB is clearly committed to reducing the risk related to rigged pitching, it is also clearly motivated to support the sports betting industry, where it sees massive profits.[4] With these competing interests at hand, the MLB’s cap on betting seeks to provide a happy balance between protecting the integrity of competition while still supporting the betting industry.
In light of the MLB’s recent action, the question that begs to be asked is: will other leagues follow suit? For example, pitcher is not the only position that is capable of rigging performance in a way that significantly alters the game. For example, while a pitcher could rig his performance by purposefully serving up a bad pitch, it is entirely feasible that an NBA player might botch free-throws on purpose, a kicker intentionally miss a field goal, a goalie let one through the five hole, etc. With the MLB leading the charge by capping individual pitch bets, it will be interesting to see if other leagues will look to be proactive and put caps on individual bets to deter game-fixing.
While this is certainly an area that will evolve over time, it will be interesting to see how the sports world tackles this challenge in light of the rapidly expanding world of sports betting.
[1] Jeff Passan, Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz indicted for pitch rigging, ESPN (November 9, 2025).
[2] Amy Tennery, MLB, sportsbooks limit pitch-specific bets after players charged in bet-rigging scheme, Reuters (November 10, 2025).
[3] Ronald Blum, MLB, sportsbooks cap bets on individual pitches in response to pitch-rigging scandal, Associated Press (November 11, 2025).
[4] How Much Do Leagues Stand to Gain from Legal Sports Betting?, American Gaming Association (October 18, 2018).
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