MLB, sportsbooks cap bets on individual pitches in response to pitch rigging scandal

Major League Baseball said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 US and exclude them from parlays, a day after two Cleveland Guardians were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers.

MLB said Monday the limits were agreed to by sportsbook operators representing more than 98 per cent of the U.S. betting market. The league said in a statement that pitch-level bets on outcomes of pitch velocity and of balls and strikes "present heightened integrity risks because they focus on one-off events that can be determined by a single player and can be inconsequential to the outcome of the game."

"The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct," the league said. "The creation of a strict bet limit on this type of bet, and the ban on parlaying them, reduces the payout for these markets and the ability to circumvent the new limit."

Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches. They were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy.

The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

Ortiz's lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement his client was innocent and "has never, and would never, improperly influence a game, not for anyone and not for anything." A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client "has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win.