MLB BREAKING NEWS: Oakland Athletics Most Valued and Fans Favourite Star Suspended in Biggest Betting Scandal in Decades

Tucupita Marcano, a San Diego Padres shortstop, was banned from baseball for life for betting on the sport, while four others, including Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly, were suspended for one year by Major League Baseball on Tuesday in the game’s largest gambling scandal in decades.

“The A’s were disappointed to learn about the Michael Kelly situation. While we cannot comment on the specifics, this infringement occurred before Michael joined the A’s organization, and we completely support MLB’s sports betting policy and the obligation to follow the aspects of Rule 21,” the Oakland Athletics said in a statement to KQED. “We will continue to educate all members of our organization regarding their obligations under the policy.”

According to MLB, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 in October 2022 and from July to November with a regulated bookmaker. He was the first active player in a century to be banned for life due to gambling.

Three minor leaguers, including pitchers Jay Groome of San Diego and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona, and infielder José Rodríguez of Philadelphia, received one-year suspensions for betting on major league games. Each of the four players wagered less than $1,000. Both Saalfrank and Rodríguez have previous major league experience.

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “For more than a century, Major League Baseball players have been prohibited from betting on games. We have made it plain that the privilege of playing baseball entails a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain sorts of behaviour that are legal for others.

Marcano is the first current big leaguer to be banned for life under the sport’s gambling rules since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader, accepted a lifetime ban in 1989 after an inquiry revealed that he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the organization.
Major League Rule 21, which is posted in every clubhouse, specifies that wagering on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official, or team employee is not required to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person is required to perform leads in a lifetime ban.

Marcano is the second North American athlete banned for gambling in recent months. In April, the NBA issued a lifetime suspension to Toronto’s Jontay Porter after deciding that he divulged sensitive information to bettors and wagered on games, including the Raptors’ loss.

MLB stated that a regulated sports betting company informed it of the betting activity in March. None of the disciplined players participated in any games on which they wagered, and all of them denied to MLB that they had inside information about their bets or the games on which they gambled – testimonies that MLB claims are consistent with the data acquired from the sportsbooks.

In its release, MLB itemized the purported bets for each player.

Between October 16, 2022, and November 1, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling $87,319 on overseas games and 231 MLB-related wagers. Twenty-five of those bets were on Pirates games while he was a member of the major league squad. Marcano, 24, has not played since tearing his right ACL on July 24 and having medical treatment at PNC Park last year.

Marcano bet almost solely on game outcomes, losing all of his Pirates parlay bets and winning only 4.3% of his MLB bets.

Marcano made his major league debut on April 1, 2021, and has a.217 average with five home runs, 34 RBIs, and seven stolen bases.

149 games. He has played both infield and outfield.

“While the thorough investigation revealed no evidence of any games being compromised, influenced or manipulated in any way in this case, protecting the integrity of our game is paramount,” the Pirates stated in a statement.

The other four players did not bet on games featuring their assigned teams.

Kelly placed 10 wagers on nine major league games between October 5 and 17, 2021, while a minor league player was assigned to Houston’s Triple-A Sugar Land farm squad. The bets included outcome wagers, run over/unders, and an individual pitcher’s strikeout total. Three of the nine games included the major league Astros. His wagers totaled $99.22 and yielded $28.30 in profits.

Kelly, 31, was 3-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 28 games this season and last pitched on Saturday in Atlanta. Over the last three seasons, the former first-round selection pick has played 46 games.

Groome, a 25-year-old who had been on a minor league injured list since mid-April, placed 32 MLB-related wagers between July 22, 2020, and July 24, 2021, including 24 on the Boston Red Sox major league squad while assigned to Boston’s High-A team in Greenville, SC. The sport revealed how he gambled $453.74 on 30 MLB games and lost $433.54, with payments on only two wagers. His bets included parlays.

Rodríguez, 23, has played in Double-A Reading this season. He gambled on baseball 31 times on September 30, 2021, and again from June 5 to July 30, 2022, including 28 on MLB and three on collegiate baseball.

The total included seven games with the Chicago White Sox while he was assigned to their Double-A affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. Two of the White Sox bets concerned outcomes, while the rest focused on runs scored. He wagered $749.09 on baseball, with $724.09 on MLB-related wagers, including parlays.

 

Saalfrank, 26, appeared in 21 games for Arizona last year during the regular season and the postseason, including three World Series games, and two this year before being optioned to Triple-A Reno on May 1. He placed 29 baseball bets between September 9 and October 29, 2021, and March 9, 2022, including 28 on MLB and one parlay on collegiate baseball. He bet four times on the big league Diamondbacks while on the injured list of their Low A development team. His total baseball bets were $445.87, including $444.07 on MLB, and he lost $272.64 on MLB bets and $1.80 on college wagers. He won only five of 28 MLB wagers, including outcomes, runs, and pitcher strikeouts.