ANYONE WHO WORE NO. 17 TO DODGER STADIUM KNOWS SENSATION IS GONE
We still aren’t sure if Ohtani bet on sports and might be lying to help his ex-interpreter, but until more is known about the gambling case from hell, his image will suffer as baseball waits in fear
If we once expected worship in a churchgoing experience, with chimes from the hills and booms in the stands, nothing was special Thursday afternoon. The thrill of watching Shohei Ohtani was lost in secrecy at Dodger Stadium. If you wore No. 17 to the home opener, you at least had to ask if the jersey was stained, while taking into account his now-haunting comment about his career.
“I think it’s wasteful,” he once said, “to limit myself without any reason by saying, ‘It’s my limit.’ ’’
He has reached a limit. What’s wasteful is how Ohtani continues to harm his murky legend — and how he has damaged the shaky condition of baseball in America — with deep questions. Did he gamble on this sport or any other while at least understanding any malice in paying off Ippei Mizuhara’s debts to an illegal bookmaker? His attorneys won’t say if law enforcement agencies, as in the almighty, have been contacted about the “massive theft” of $4.5 million by his former interpreter. His side remains vague and cold. We need assurances and have none.
With utter innocence, the Los Angeles Dodgers introduced their lineup on a blue carpet, from dead center field to the infield, with onlookers ranging from Tarzana to Tokyo. They had more representatives, including chefs, pressing from home plate to left field while the St. Louis Cardinals barely reached first base. Bryan Cranston barked out the lineup, as Josh Groban sang the national anthem. Ohtani walked onto the field with a wave as little kids wanted his high-five, including Charlie Freeman, whose father, Freddie, hit a two-run homer while Mookie Betts added another during a third inning in which Ohtani walked. We realized right there, as a 5-0 lead built toward a 7-1 victory, what kind of chaos those three can cause atop the order.
“If the Dodgers don’t win the World Series,” manager Dave Roberts said, “I think we’d all feel we’ve failed accomplishing our goal.”
Still, you looked at Ohtani and thought of nothing but theft. This on a day when he doubled before being picked off base, then walked and singled before striking out. This on a day when Toyo Tires, from Japan, ran an advertisement behind home plate to remind us of his native dominance, in spite of rumors surrounding him. Does anyone with a conscience believe the start of the season will purge the outrage?
His boutique firm, Berk Brettler LLP, hasn’t followed an expected legal protocol to bury Mizuhara. The same group is known for helping Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and Prince Andrew in criminal matters — hardly the charming trio to accompany Ohtani — after saying last week, “In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.” The Internal Revenue Service and Homeland Security are handling a joint investigation. Also involved is the Department of Investigations in Major League Baseball, which is a joke. But federal, state and local authorities are not involved, despite Ohtani’s position as the highest-paid athlete in North America and the girth of the Dodgers in southern California.
We still have no idea if Ohtani bet on baseball, which could ban him for life and kill the game forever. We also don’t know why he allowed nine wire transfers of $500,000, all shipped to Mathew Bowyer in Orange County, without a responsible collection of business managers and lawyers knowing about those executions. Why wouldn’t the bookie assume Ohtani knew all about it when his name was on the wire transfers? How couldn’t he know? If Ohtani thought the nightmare would end after his Monday news conference, the season begins only with doubt about where the story is going.
Is he knowingly covering up for Mizuhara, his best friend and water-bottle carrier for seven years, while claiming publicly he has been burned? “Up until a couple of days ago, I did not know this was happening,” Ohtani said. “In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies. … I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it in on my behalf. I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.” Yet he never explained how Mizuhara had his banking information, which suggests Ohtani gave it to him — which possibly links him to the wagering — until Berk Brettler chose the Maim Ippei path. Worse, was Ohtani gambling? He says no, but his word is all we have.
“Ippei basically didn’t tell me about the media inquiry,” Ohtani said of their South Korea visit about the conflict. “So Ippei has been telling everybody around that Ippei has been communicating with Shohei on all of his accounts to my representatives and to my team, and that hasn’t been true.”
At this point, it’s Shohei’s trust against a ghastly world, in America, where Mizuhara grew up after he was born in Japan. The story hangs like pennants in the ballpark, where Ohtani was supposed to bring the second World Series championship to the Dodgers since the late ’80s. His image is down. Their image is shot. Without Mizuhara, who always was by his side at every ballpark and far beyond, how will he respond in the batter’s box this season? Remember when his manager with the Los Angeles Angels, Joe Maddon, referred to them as “peanut butter and jelly.” Who knew both would be sandblasted like egg salad? As Ohtani said, “To summarize how I'm feeling right now, I'm just beyond shock. It's really hard to verbalize how I'm feeling at this point.”
As game time approached, MLB announced it was placing Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco on paid administrative leave through June 1. Franco, it should be said, was not formally charged by prosecutors for having an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old in the Dominican Republic. He is worth another $174 million to the Rays, yet he must remain off the 40-man roster. Ohtani hasn’t been charged, nor has Mizuhara for theft, yet he can keep playing for the Dodgers with no current doubts about future punishment. Ever think about how warped this is? The same applied to pitcher Trevor Bauer, who sat for 324 games (before the suspension was reduced to 194) when he never was charged with sexual assault. Franco sits. Bauer still sits.
Ohtani plays on, without dread.
Hoping his investigation will be “short,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred seems committed to freeing Ohtani. Why? Billions in revenue, maybe?
“Given the way the story unfolded it's important in assuring our fans about the integrity of the game that we verify the things that Mr. Ohtani said, it's really that simple,” Manfred said on the MLB Network. “It's really difficult for federal authorities to cooperate with us fully when they have their own ongoing investigation so I think this is one where we'll have to proceed on our own. We never have the kind of authority that law enforcement people have but we manage to get these investigations done and find the facts and I'm sure we will on this one. I hope (it's) short, but I just don't know.”
Oh, he knows.
The pressure on the Dodgers, already insane, is the largest on any sports team of our time. The Guggenheimers spent $1.35 billion in the offseason. The day’s losing pitcher, Miles Mikolas, had the gumption to say beforehand, “You’ve got the Dodgers playing checkbook baseball. … It would be great to stick it to the Dodgers.” Then he caught a look at the batting order. Roberts becomes the public’s principal figure in monitoring Ohtani in the clubhouse. He thinks removing Mizuhara is a plus. “I would argue that it’s going to help relations internally. There’s no longer a buffer, where I think … I’ve already seen it,” Roberts said. “The last couple of days, I think Shohei has been even more engaging with his teammates, and I think there’s only upside with that.” He added, with a smile, “I think that we’re all going to be surprised how much English he knows. And I think that’s a good thing.”
His teammates only have the news conference and their daily dealings. So far, while clueless about gambling, they have his back. “That’s his personal life. That’s a lot,” Freeman said. “We’re supportive of Shohei. I know, obviously, everyone wants to know about it. But hopefully that helps. You could just kind of see, when he came in after that, he was relieved he was able to talk about it.”
“He’s handling this way better than I would. Betrayal is hard,” said veteran Kike Hernández, who was inside the media room during the press conference. “And when you show up to work and you don't show any signs ... we're human and (stuff) affects us in many different ways. And he's doing a great job of not letting it (distract) him from what he needs to do on the field and his work.”
Said third baseman Max Muncy: “We’re all behind the guy. For me, where I come from, you're innocent until proven guilty. So the guy has told us face to face what he believes is the truth. That's what I'm going off, and I believe him 100 percent. I have his back on it. It’s a hard thing to move on from, especially for him, and you definitely feel for the guy, but he's starting to see how we act as a group in this clubhouse and to know we all have each other's backs and we're going to move forward through this.”
Even with Ohtani excelling at the plate, the Atlanta Braves won’t deal with stress and might take the National League pennant. Arizona reached the Series last fall and plans a renewal, acquiring Jordan Montgomery in a rotation that includes Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and newcomer Eduardo Rodriguez as Corbin Carroll smells blood. In San Francisco, the Giants signed Blake Snell and Matt Chapman from Scott Boras’ lowball camp. In San Diego, the Padres lost Juan Soto, Josh Hader and Snell from last year’s crash but still have Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish. All teams in the NL West eye the Dodgers, even as they wear the same cheap uniforms with smallish personal names.
And they see Ohtani sweating. In life’s biggest picture, he symbolizes the gambling plight that won’t stop defacing sports. When people watch his team, they’ll see more than a management mob that continues to spend ungodly sums, signing catcher Will Smith to a $140 million deal Wednesday. They’ll also see scandal.
“This situation clearly demonstrates the impact and harm that gambling addiction can inflict,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y, who described a “public health crisis” while introducing an anti-betting act. “The widespread legalization and promotion of sports gambling only makes this type of incident more common moving forward. We have an obligation to address the predatory practices of this industry and protect consumers.”
Those were the echoes heard Thursday by Shohei Ohtani. A crowd cheered, for the home debut, but there was no reverence. The world is left to pause, again, about the evils of betting.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.