MLB Extends Luis Ortiz Leave As Betting Investigation Continues

Luis Ortiz will stay off the mound a bit longer as Major League Baseball continues to look into questionable betting activity tied to two of his recent appearances. Although he has not been suspended or accused of wrongdoing, Ortiz remains on paid leave and is currently not allowed at Cleveland Guardians facilities.

Good to know

• Ortiz’s leave has been extended through August 31, with MLB and MLBPA in agreement.
• The suspicious bets involved first-pitch outcomes, not overall game results.
• MLB says transparency in regulated betting is helping uncover risks.

The whole situation started after IC360, a company that tracks betting integrity, flagged unusual wagering patterns tied to Ortiz’s starts on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners and June 27 versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Multiple sportsbooks noticed odd spikes in betting volume on first-pitch outcomes—specifically whether a pitch would be a ball or a hit-by-pitch. Both pitches reportedly landed well outside the strike zone.

Betting accounts linked to New York, New Jersey, and Ohio were at the center of those wagers, based on documents reviewed by ESPN. So far, there has been no public evidence that directly links Ortiz to any of the bets. Still, the timing and nature of the activity raised enough concern to keep him sidelined during the ongoing review.

Originally placed on leave on July 3, Ortiz is being kept away from the team until at least the end of August. MLB clarified in a joint statement with the players union that his leave is not disciplinary in nature.

Speaking during All-Star week in Atlanta, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the growing tension between baseball and gambling. Manfred defended legal sports betting in general, arguing that the system of compliance and data-sharing is better than what existed when most betting was underground.

“I know there was a lot of sports betting, tons of it that went on illegally and we had no idea, no idea what threats there were to the integrity of the play because it was all not transparent,” he said. “I firmly believe that the transparency and monitoring that we have in place now, as a result of the legalization and the partnerships that we’ve made, puts us in a better position to protect baseball than we were in before.”

Still, Manfred acknowledged that not all bets are equal. He said microbetting—wagers on small, isolated events within a game—could present issues.

Manfred said:

“There are certain types of bets that strike me as unnecessary and particularly vulnerable. We should continue to think about that: do we really need that last kind of bet?”

MLB has faced several gambling-related challenges in recent years. In 2023, the league handed down suspensions to five players over betting violations. One of them, Tucupita Marcano, received a lifetime ban for wagering on games involving his own team, while others have been relieved from their penalties..

The Ortiz case now joins that growing list. And while it is too early to say where it will land, it raises real questions about the types of bets being offered—and whether all of them serve the sport’s long-term interest.