Getty Image
Despite not being under investigation by Major League Baseball, Shohei Ohtani has not been able to dodge the scrutiny of fans over an ongoing gambling scandal involving interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Mizuhara stands accused of misappropriating $4.5 million of Ohtani’s money to pay his own personal gambling debts.
But a new X (formerly Twitter) thread from user @timmy_smokes appears to show a concerning trend involving Ohtani’s performance and bets placed by Mizuhara.
(2) that day? Shohei Ohtani. That stats for Shohei that day were as followed, 6.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER and 1 BB. At the plate you ask? 0-3 with 2 strike outs. Was he throwing games? I’ll let you decide that
— TimmySmokes (@timmy_smokes) March 22, 2024
The Twitter user states that Ohtani started and gave up six earned runs against the Atlanta Braves on July 22, 2022. That much is true.
But here’s where things get odd.
The thread states that ” a bet of $1,000,000 was placed for the Atlanta Braves to score over 6.5 runs against the Los Angeles Angels parlayed with Braves -3.5. The bet was placed with a bookie in Mizusawa (Shohei’s home town).”
Now, the same Twitter user does not state how he knows this bet was placed that day, only that the information came “from inside info from a Braves employee.”
So, take this entire thing with a massive grain of salt.
But that wasn’t the only starling instance according to the Twitter user.
(4) 10 MILLION DOLLAR BET WAS PLACED. Same bookie, same town….. a parlay with +2500 odds.
•Astros -1.5
•Astros o 6.5
•Shohei o 4.5 runs allowed
•Shohei u 6.5 K
•game total o 11.5
Shohei’s line for that day, 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER while allowing 2 home runs. Shohei went 2-5 at the— TimmySmokes (@timmy_smokes) March 22, 2024
The source claims that on July 4, 2023 “a bet was placed in the same hometown with the same bookie for 4.2 million dollars on the over for the Padres run total.”
In the following game, Ohtani started and gave up 5 earned runs in 5 innings pitched. He also went 0-for-3 at the plate.
Finally, he claims Ohtani played a $10 million bet 10 days latter.
The alleged bet was a parlay with the following parameters:
•Astros -1.5
•Astros o 6.5
•Shohei o 4.5 runs allowed
•Shohei u 6.5 K
•game total o 11.5
The alleged odds were +2500. Ohtani allowed five earned runs in six innings pitched and went 2-for-5 at the plate against the Astros.
Did those bets really exist?
We may never know.
But it’s certainly not the best look for Ohtani or the MLB to not have more transparency.