MLB Gets Sportsbooks to Cap Prop Bets on Pitches at $200

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Trying to salvage integrity of games

Major League Baseball (MLB) has announced that it has worked with sportsbooks to install guardrails on individual pitch wagers to protect the integrity of the games. Though the season just ended, effective immediately, all “MLB Authorized Gaming Operators” are limiting bets on “pitch-level markets” to a $200 maximum. Such wagers will also be prohibited from being included in parlays.

difficult to detect in real time

Though the league makes clear that parlays are not as threatening to game integrity as other bets since they rely on multiple outcomes, it says that bets on individual pitches do pose enhanced risks for a couple of reasons: 1) they are in the control of a single player, and 2) they are often “inconsequential” in the grand scheme of the game and presumably more difficult to detect in real time.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred noted that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine took the lead on this effort. DeWine has been critical of the sports betting industry from the moment sports betting became legal in Ohio at the beginning of 2023. He also called for a ban on prop bets this summer.

Clase conspired with bettors to rig pitches

The move by MLB and sportsbooks – the league says the betting operators involved cover 98% of the US market – comes a day after Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted for manipulating their play for betting purposes. Specifically, they were charged with fraud, conspiracy, and bribery by prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York.

Though Ortiz was the first of the two to be placed on leave in July, it was Clase who, according to the 23-page indictment, was the primary actor in the gambling scheme that dates back to 2023. In the earliest example provided by prosecutors, Clase told bettors that he would throw a pitch faster than 94.95 miles per hour. Weeks later, he did the opposite, promising to throw a specific pitch slower than 94.95 miles per hour. The people he told won a total of $65,000.

accepted money in exchange for throwing balls on specific pitches

As the scheme continued over the next two seasons, Clase accepted money in exchange for throwing balls on specific pitches; he typically spiked pitches in the dirt to ensure that they wouldn’t be close to being called strikes.

Clase was foiled once, when the Dodgers’ Andy Pages swung and missed at a pitch low and out of the strike zone:

Ortiz joined scheme, caught quickly

Ortiz got involved on June 15, 2025 and was placed on leave during the investigation less than three weeks later. Clase got Ortiz to take $5,000 to throw a ball on the first pitch of the second inning against the Seattle Mariners. Clase received $5,000 for his role; two bettors put down $13,000 on that pitch.

Oritz did it again on June 27, 2025, accepting $7,000 to intentionally throw a ball on the first pitch of the third inning of a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Bettors wagered $18,000 on the pitch.

To make matters worse, Clase was spotted on security footage withdrawing $50,000 from the bank and giving $15,000 of it to one of the bettors.

One thing that is stunning to baseball fans is the relatively small amount of money that the players received compared to their salaries. Ortiz, who has been a decent pitcher in his short career, had a salary of $782,600 this season. At just 27 years old, Clase had established himself as one of the best closers in the league and was in the middle of a five-year, $20m contract.

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