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MLB commissioner addresses sport’s illegal gambling scandal, will cooperate with Congress on investigation

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MLB commissioner addresses sport’s illegal gambling scandal, will cooperate with Congress on investigation


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Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday the league will cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.

The sport has been rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who are accused of aiding gamblers by taking bribes to rig pitches.

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the first round of the MLB Draft July, 13, 2025, in Atlanta.  (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. 

The committee is asking for responses to six questions by that date:

  1. “How and when was MLB made aware of suspicious betting and game manipulation activity by Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide documents sufficient to support your response?”
  2. “Provide documents sufficient to show MLB’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
  3. “List any investigation into an MLB or affiliate team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners for violating MLB rules relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
  4. “Provide all documents related to any investigation listed in response to Request 3, including: Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation; Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
  5. Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
  6. Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and
  7. Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
  8. “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers: Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
  9. Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or
  10. Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
  11. “Explain the extent to which MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game rigging that have occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
  12. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure;
  13. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and
  14. How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

MLB CRACKS DOWN WITH NEW BETTING LIMIT AFTER CLEVELAND PITCHERS CHARGED IN GAMBLING SCHEME

Sen. Ted Cruz

Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5.  (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave July 3 and Clase was placed on leave July 28. 

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said. 

Both Ortiz and Clase have pleaded not guilty. 

Clase and Ortiz were arrested and appeared in federal court in New York last week. Clase, a three-time All-Star, pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win money on his pitches. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Officials said in the indictment that, from May 2023 to June 2025, Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.

The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor to throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in specific games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets; June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.

Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.

Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.

When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.

The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.

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Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase’s leave was extended indefinitely Aug. 31, 2025. (IMAGN/AP)

The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving alleged illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the alleged scheme.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Wings stifle questions about Azzi Fudd-Paige Bueckers relationship

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Wings stifle questions about Azzi Fudd-Paige Bueckers relationship


Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, answered numerous basketball-related questions at her Dallas Wings introductory news conference Thursday, but one unrelated to the game overshadowed all the others.

Fudd and teammate Paige Bueckers, who will team in Dallas’ backcourt this season, went public about their relationship in 2025, and it was an often-discussed subject before this week’s draft.

But when Fudd was asked Thursday about both her relationship with Bueckers — the two overlapped at UConn and won a national championship together — and whether she would seek advice from other couples in the WNBA about navigating the relationship as pro players, the subject was quickly shut down.

“Understand why you have to ask that question,” a Wings public relations staffer interrupted. “We’re going to respectfully decline from commenting on our players’ personal lives.”

Fudd averaged 17.3 points on 47% shooting in her final season at UConn, which ended with the Huskies losing to South Carolina at the Final Four — their only loss of the season.

Bueckers, who was last year’s No. 1 overall pick by the Wings, averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds while winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award.

Wings general manager Curt Miller said the team never hesitated in its choice to draft Fudd as the team looks to take steps forward after tying for the league’s worst record last season at 10-34 and winning only nine games in 2024.

“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.

“Words that we heard over and over again in the investigation of her was, a winner, competitor, a hard worker, obviously the skill set speaks for itself, an incredible shooter — probably one of the quickest releases in the game today, a defender with a lot of competitiveness and toughness, and, ultimately, all the intangibles that goes along with Azzi in the locker room — being unselfish, being an incredible teammate, being a high-basketball-IQ player. [It] all pointed us through a very deliberate and thorough process back to Azzi Fudd.”



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Former SMU cornerback Teddy Knox faces $2.88M judgment for crash linked to Rashee Rice’s Lamborghini race

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Former SMU cornerback Teddy Knox faces .88M judgment for crash linked to Rashee Rice’s Lamborghini race


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Kansas City Chiefs star receiver Rashee Rice isn’t the only one facing discipline for a March 2024 car crash in Dallas.

Theodore “Teddy” Knox, a former SMU cornerback and teammate of Rice’s in college, was driving a Corvette while racing Rice’s Lamborghini on a Dallas highway before it caused a multi-car crash.

Knox has been hit with a $2.88 million default judgment in a lawsuit from one of those crash victims, Kathryn Kuykendall, according to ESPN.

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Teddy Knox and Rashee Rice (Getty Images)

Knox was ruled “grossly negligent” by Judge Kim Bailey Phipps, and a default judgment comes when a lawsuit has no response or a party does not appear in court. In this case, it was reportedly the latter.

“We’ve asked the court to grant the default judgment because we’re ethically required to as a matter of diligence,” Kuykendall’s attorney, Marc Lenahan, said in a statement to ESPN when the motion was filed. 

“Personally, it pleases us that Teddy hasn’t made further mistakes that we’re aware of. If a team gives him a chance to prove that he’s walking the right path now, we’ll be rooting for him.”

PATRIOTS STAR STEFON DIGGS PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO FELONY STRANGULATION CHARGES DAYS AFTER SUPER BOWL

This marks the third default judgment issued against Knox from the March 2024 crash. He was also ordered to pay $1.99 million to Irina Gromova and $1.63 million to Edvard Petrovskiy in combined damages.

Knox and Rice pleaded guilty to charges from the crash, and Knox was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation. Knox was charged with causing a collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury.

Southern Methodist Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox running on football field during game

SMU wide receiver Teddy Knox on special teams during a game against the North Texas Mean Green  Nov. 10, 2023, at Gerald Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire)

Rice had similar charges, receiving five-year deferred probation and 30 days in jail as a condition of the probation. His jail time was said to be flexible, according to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

Rice was also required to pay the victims for their out-of-pocket medical expenses, which totaled around $115,000, as part of his plea agreement.   

Rice was also suspended six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, which he served last season.

The 25-year-old receiver said in a statement issued by his attorney at the time of the league’s decision that he’s had “a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole.”

SMU Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox catching a football at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas

SMU Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox (18) prepares to make a catch during a game between against the TCU Horned Frogs Sept. 24, 2022, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire)

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Knox was suspended by SMU, and he hasn’t been in college football ever since. He began his career at Mississippi State before transferring to SMU.

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Mike Trout crushes fifth Yankee Stadium HR in four games

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Mike Trout crushes fifth Yankee Stadium HR in four games


NEW YORK — Mike Trout‘s latest homer against the New York Yankees put him in rare company, and going deep again made history at Yankee Stadium.

Trout homered for the fifth time during a four-game series Thursday, crushing a 446-foot drive in the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-4 victory.

A three-time MVP, Trout joined Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990) as the only players with five homers in a series against the Yankees, according to MLB researcher Sarah Langs.

Trout homered twice Monday before going deep again in the following two games. In the series finale Thursday, Trout drove a 2-2 slider from reliever Angel Chivilli about halfway up the left-field bleachers to give the Angels a 7-4 lead. That shot made Trout the first player to hit five homers in a series in the Bronx.

“I heard that after the game,” Trout said. “It’s pretty surreal. All the great players that came through here, so it’s pretty cool.”

“Honestly, not surprising,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you’re with Mike every day, there’s nothing that you believe that he can’t do.”

Trout also became the first visiting player to homer in four consecutive days at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.

Trout went 6-for-16 with five homers and nine RBIs in the series. He also has homered in his past five games at Yankee Stadium and drew an intentional walk in his next plate appearance before Jo Adell hit a grand slam.

“At this point it’s vintage Mike Trout,” Adell said. “When he’s healthy and feeling good, there’s nothing like it. It’s special. It’s one of a kind. So for all of us to experience it, it’s special.”

“He’s unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “He really is. It’s been an amazing week for him.”

Trout is hitting .246 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. He is 9-for-27 (.333) with five homers and 13 RBIs on the Angels’ road trip, which coincides with him making a mechanical tweak.

Trout’s career-high homer streak is seven games, achieved Sept. 4-12, 2022. He has homered in four straight games for the fourth time in his career.

Trout’s homer was part of a four-game series that featured four homers from Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge. Judge homered twice Monday, again Wednesday and went deep in the first inning in the series finale.

“He’s unreal,” designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said after the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games. “Cool showing from him and Judgie all series. Obviously, you don’t want that against us, but you got to acknowledge the greatness.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time opposing players who owned multiple MVPs hit at least three homers in the same series.

“It was an impressive show by those two,” Suzuki said.



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