Rob Manfred: MLB remains 'vigilant' in policing sports betting - ESPN

TORONTO — Commissioner Rob Manfred said Major League Baseball's «No. 1 priority is to protect the integrity of the game» and that the league has been «really vigilant» amid increasing questions about professional sports' ability to police the fallout from the widespread legalization of sports gambling.

Following the arrests this week of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and longtime NBA player and coach Damon Jones for their alleged participation in fraudulent bets, sports leagues have grappled with maintaining competitive reliability in an environment ripe for corruption. Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, closer Emmanuel Clase and starter Luis Ortiz, remain under investigation by MLB after a betting integrity firm flagged multiple suspicious bets in June.

«We didn't ask to have legalized sports betting,» Manfred said before Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night. «It kind of came, and that's the environment in which we operate. Now we don't have a lot of choice about that, and if it's going to change — broadly change — probably the only way it would happen is the federal government.»

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has called for the ban of microbets — such as wagers made on whether a single pitch would be a ball or strike, as was allegedly the case with Ortiz and Clase — and MLB has corresponded with DeWine on the matter.

«The most important thing that we can do is make sure that we have systems in place that give us access to data, which puts you in a position to determine if there's something aberrational going on,» Manfred said. «I think then when you get that, you need to conduct a thorough investigation, make sure that you understand exactly what caused that aberration. And then you need to discipline.»

While the league