At least five players facing lifetime ban for betting
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
This is my shocked face.
I remain appalled at the amount of ads we get for shit like Draft Kings and casinos during sporting events. I feel like as recently as 10 years ago major professional sports said they wouldn't even consider teams in Vegas and now we are going to have three there in short order.
I remain appalled at the amount of ads we get for shit like Draft Kings and casinos during sporting events. I feel like as recently as 10 years ago major professional sports said they wouldn't even consider teams in Vegas and now we are going to have three there in short order.
Or they bet when they were in the minors (i.e., not on a major league team.) Maybe that matters (to someone) if they bet on ML teams.
If the players who are implicated are somehow connected, it could be in the Padres org. this year, but he's been injured, and I don't know how much contact he'd have had with anyone.
But he was in the minors in Pittsburg the last couple of years - 23, 22, and the last half of 21. Before that, the Padres. But that seems like it's awhile ago. . .
Or it could just be 5 random guys.
You'd think the WSJ would lead with the biggest name.
More from ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40271458/sources-padres-tucupita-marcano-faces-mlb-ban-betting
Some excerpts:
Some excerpts:
Just to tack on to the 2024 injury parade, the other four players are Kyle Teel, Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Triston Casas.
I’m 100% with you. I can’t stand sports gambling (or gambling, period) and hate how it’s now married to sports. Can’t watch or listen to sports for two minutes without some gambling ad.
Fletcher bet on sports (but not baseball) with the same bookie Ippei Mizuhara was using. This article also says Fletcher's friend, a former minor-leaguer named Colby Schultz, bet on games Fletcher played in.
I used to think that the extra-innings Manfred Man was the worst development in MLB over the past few years, but I've concluded that the constant in-your-face promotion of gambling is definitely worse. It's not that I've changed my mind in the slightest about the Manfred Man, but at least that only ruins my experience of watching a game a few times per month. The deluge of promoting gambling during every game, during every commercial break and incorporated into the broadcast itself (all 3 guys on Cleveland's television broadcast team contribute to a parlay for each game) is constantly grating on my enjoyment of every game. That damn "What's your system" ad… my system is not throwing my money away because I foolishly think my knowledge of baseball enables me to predict the future.
Last edited:
Amen. "Oh but if you have a gambling problem, we have provided the following 800 numbers in 2 point type, or in a recoded voice that's been sped up to near incomprehension."
The sports betting industry took in $11B in 2023 and it's projected to grow tremendously over the next decade, so it's easy to see why they do it, but that's a lot of money that would otherwise be in people's pockets.
Gambling is the finest thing a person can do *if* he's good at it but most people aren't. I don't mind throwing down some money in Vegas in the spirit of having a good time or buying the odd lotto ticket but I stay away from sports betting because it seems like a really great way to lose money quickly. I'm not one to clutch pearls, but it seems like a lot of people - especially those in and around sports - can't stay away, even one it's incredibly destructive to themselves.
This may be a topic for another thread, but I know we have a lot of people in this forum that bet on sports and I wonder if anyone can articulate the value you get from it and if it's worth all the money you lose. And if you don't lose money - like, you're legitimately in the black over you lifetime - I would love to hear that perspective, too.
90% of bettors lose money long term. All that making online gaming legal (which I completely agree with) did was add idiot college kids and young professionals, who probably would never otherwise bet, to their client base. Good/professional sports bettors used to have to drive to the books, place bets, etc. Now you hop on an app and it's 2 clicks away.
The grossest and most predatory thing these companies do is push parlays. Being successful at winning straight up bets (long term) is nearly impossible. Every leg of a parlay makes it infinitely more impossible. I get grossed out every time I hear F&M do their stupid parlay of the week because a few hundred idiots probably make that bet without knowing the odds are so insurmountable they'll win.
I've noticed on the broadcasts that they'll show things like that on screen during the game. If Devers gets 2 hits and the total runs are over 7.5 and Criswell strikes out more than 5.5, you win blah blah blah. But it's often when Criswell is already out of the game and only struck out 3. The announcers never even mention that it's a big loser of a bet today.
Part of me wonders if the announcers/personalities even know how truly terrible the bets are (and if they knew, if they'd even care ) you're literally asking people to light their money on fire and giving them the match and accelerant, just in case.
Right now on DK's main page is a 6 leg NRFI parlay at like +2300. I have no idea if it's accurate, but according to them 128 people placed that bet.
They might as well get the Medellin Cartel to sponsor games.
Somebody *might* care if every question, every time, to every team and/or MLB exec is along the lines of "You take in billions from gambling sponsors, how do we know that games aren't fixed so that your billion-dollar sponsors don't lose money?" Or asking players if they trust that their teammates aren't gambling on game. Every fucking time. Like Helen Thomas getting the first question at POTUS press conferences.
The first network/service that gets cut out of the MLB broadcast action will do some reporting and uncover some bad shit. There's too much money and opportunity for there not to be some shenanigans going on.
"MLB is so mad at Shohei Ohtani they're going to give Tucupita Marcano two lifetime bans," University of Nevada, Las Vegas head coach Jerry Tarkanian.
$3.65 million bonuses don't go as far as they used to.
His win/loss record was in line with his career (2-28)
Trading a prospect with undisclosed issues is payback for Pomeranz.
His win/loss record was in line with his career (2-28)
Trading a prospect with undisclosed issues is payback for Pomeranz.
Last edited:
As opposed to the ads they used to pitch for get rich quick schemes and cures for baldness
Rodriguez bet $794 when he was on AA Birmingham. He’s currently on the Phillies 40 man roster in AA Reading.
Man, throwing away a year for $794
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/phillies-jose-rodriguez-suspended-for-one-year/amp/
Man, throwing away a year for $794
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/phillies-jose-rodriguez-suspended-for-one-year/amp/
I'm in favor of legalized sports betting the way I am with legalized weed. It should be legal, but we didn't really need to legalize it in a way where it's everywhere all the time in your face. You could have legalized it with substantial restrictions on advertising for example.
IIRC the Kings weren't able to be bet on for some time because the Maloofs owned the Palms, no?
Also, it wasn't even ten years ago when Al Michaels would tacitly say after some late points in a SNF game that "well, that made some people happy".
I don't know...when are we just going to just put full blame on the players for doing something that is so obviously wrong? Just because there are ads in your face and information doesn't give anyone the right to ignore basic common sense.
Not to mention that players could always make bets...at least now it's easier for them to catch the stupid ones amongst them.
Not to mention that players could always make bets...at least now it's easier for them to catch the stupid ones amongst them.
My good friend is the music director for the Nationals. He's in the park probably 150 days a year. And even he won't bet on baseball. He's privy to information before games about availability before the public or press is because of prep work, and while he's technically *allowed* to bet on the Nats, he refuses to.
For the 4 who got 1 year suspensions: is that because they were on MiLB rosters and not MLB ones? I don't follow baseball like I used to, but I thought betting at any stage/amount with regards to the game was verboten.
Saalfrank pitched in 11 games last postseason, including 5/7 in NLCS and 3/5 in WS. That postseason share not enough for him?
Agreed here. There’s alcohol ads everywhere too, don’t remember any players unable to show up to the game sober.
I'm not absolving the players of anything. It's a simple rule. I get the point, but showing up drunk is inherently self-defeating in a way that gambling on games is not. With respect to the owners, it's a short-sighted cash-grab that I think will backfire spectacularly in my lifetime. It's reasonable for owners /MLB to think "A-B can pay us a billion; I don't think the players are all going to be bloated and drunk all the time." I think it's a much closer question as to whether "DK can pay us a billion, I don't think any player is going to play according to someone's gambling interests" is a reasonable assumption.
For the demographic that has grown up with easy gambling, why *wouldn't* they think that player x stupidly decided to try (or not try) for a triple because of his cousin's parlay, as opposed to the player's inherent stupidity?
At the end of the day, yes, it's all on the players. But when you're young and inundated with messages telling you how easy it is to gamble, how much money you can win on your phone; not to mention that MLB is in bed with just about every gambling site out there, it's hard not to put yourself in their shoes. We know that the minor league players make peanuts and maybe they don't think that they're a. hurting anyone or b. doing anything wrong, so they make a few wagers here and there. I can guarantee that all of their buddies (non baseball ones definitely) are doing it. Like others have said you can't sit down to watch a game without some "GAMBLING INSIDER1!!!!!!!!" yelling at you about how dumb you are by not laying down some money on his unbelievable parlay lock of the day. Or play-by-play and color guys gabbing about their daily bets during a lull in the action. Or Chuck and Shaq and Ernie and Kenny discussing the lines for the next game.
There is alcohol but no one on TV going on and on about the bender they just had, how shitfaced they are right now and how easy it is to get booze.
It's not entrapment by any means, but big time sports and the gambling concerns built this monster and now it's coming home to roost. There's going to be more of this and the people who will be caught aren't necessarily "the stupid ones".
If you want to see where the US is going to be in 5-10 years, check out "Jackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain" by Rob Davies. It's not going to be a pretty picture.
The walk from Brookline Ave down Landsdowne to Gate C is heinous now with the pot place taking over the old Golds gym location. Too bad that t-shirt store didn’t last.
I hadn't really thought of this. Prop bets aren't about throwing games like the 1919 Black Sox, but they are so much more easily manipulated.
Here's my problem with this. You say they don't think they are doing anything wrong, which is like saying you're not going to hurt yourself drinking and driving. All my buddies do it! They never hurt anyone!
You make it sound like players aren't told they shouldn't do the dumbest thing in all of pro sports...but yet there are those that choose to be stupid and bet in games they clearly are told not to.
I put like 99% of the blame in the idiot players who do this. Like seriously...just bet on the 200 other things you can bet on. IT'S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD.
If I'm a bettor, at some point in a long losing streak, I go George Castanza opposite day and bet the opposite of what I think. He'd be ahead and could use the earnings as his budget for the next 12 months.
Seriously, though, I feel a little bad for the kid ... lousy father, lots of injuries, career gone afoul, now this self-inflicted wound that might get him cut at age 26.
My very first sentence was, "yes, it's is all on the players", right? What I'm saying is that there are mixed messages sent to these kids, with the biggest message arriving over the noise is that "betting is easy and you can win a lot of money. Take out your phone and do it. Right now!"
Of course, they're told not to do it. But how many times? Now think about how many times a day they're told TO do it. Just a bet. We'll make it easy for you and give you x amount of dollars so that your first bet is free.
I mean I place this blame at the feet of the players, but there is culpability for the MLB and the law makers who pushed for betting to be legal. Did they really think that none of the players would bet on their sports? Ever? And that some of them might be screwing around with the outcomes?
There's no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube, gambling is here to stay. But MLB just sidestepped a major black eye with the Ohtani mess. This is something that's going to happen a lot and I'm not sure what the answer is to remedy it. But I know that a few words at Spring Training about the "evils of gambling" and hoping that all professional players act on the honor system and don't bet on MLB games isn't the solution. Per usual MLB didn't ask any more questions than, "How much money and when can we get it?" when they signed on with the betting companies and now it's starting to bite them a little bit. The next time it might be a bigger bite. Then a scandal.
So you're right, this is the player's faults. BUT it's also MLB's fault for not ensuring safeguards to keep their product and their players safe.