Major Leagues start with scandal led by the highest paid athlete in the world

This Thursday the season of the Big leaguesbut not like in other years, since the first launch will be made in the midst of a severe sports betting scandal, involving the Japanese Shohei Ohtanichampions playerLos Angeles Dodgers, and the athlete who earns the most in the world.

The Dodgers, determined to hire the best, paid Ohtani the not inconsiderable sum of $700 million for 10 seasons, in the largest deal in sports history.

However, the player is involved in a sports betting scandal, the same one in which his former translator has been involved. Ippei Mizuharawho said that the player “had agreed to pay the debt of about 4.5 million dollars, a product of the illegal bets he made, although he later contradicted himself, changed his version and said that the player did not know anything about those transfers that were made from their accounts,” said the AFP agency.

Strong scandal

“Ippei has been stealing money from my account and telling lies. Obviously I didn't do it, I never agreed to pay off the debt or agreed to make payments to the betting house,” said Ohtani himself.

“I never bet on baseball or any other sport, nor did I ever ask anyone to do so on my behalf, and I never used a sports book to bet on sports and I was never asked to help with the bets,” he said.

Ohtani noted that he was “very sad and surprised” that someone he absolutely trusted would do that.

“The media impact and the investigation carried out by MLB and other organizations related to this case will be part of the Dodgers' season. Regardless of whether this case existed or not, Ohtani will always be the center of attention of the press and baseball in general, so beyond the effect it may have on Ohtani's performance, the Los Angeles team is plagued by a group of stars who hardly divert their attention from the objective they pursue on the field of play,” said the international agency.

Not believing

Ohtani is part of an impressive Dodgers team, which includes: Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez, who are great figures of the Californian ninth.

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