MLB is in the midst of another gambling scandal.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced one permanent ban and that four other players were banned for a year for violating the league's gambling policy. MLB rules state that players can legally bet on sports as long as they do not bet on diamond sports (baseball or softball). Each of the five players violated that policy.
MLB was sent data from a legal sports betting operator with activity from current players and that led to the suspensions. Let's dive into what they were betting on.
San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was the most notable of the suspensions as MLB handed him a lifetime ban. According to MLB's release, Marcano placed 387 baseball bets and 231 MLB-related bets at a legal sportsbook from 2022-2023. Marcano was generally betting parlays that included MLB bets and non-MLB bets.
In total, Marcano bet more than $150,000 on baseball and over $87,000 was MLB-related. According to reports, he did not win any money on bets that were against his own team and only won 4.3% of the baseball-related bets. Marcano was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time of the bets. Marcano hasn't played since last July after tearing his ACL.
Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly received a one-year suspension for violating the gambling policy.
Kelly bet on 10 baseball games and nine of those were MLB games in 2021, while he was with the Astros Triple-A affiliate. Three of the games involved the Astros.
Kelly bet a total $99.22 on MLB games and had a net win of $28.30.
Padres minor league pitcher Jay Groome was given a one-year suspension as well. He bet $453.74 on 30 MLB-game-related wagers while he was a member of the Boston Red Sox High-A affiliate and 24 of those wagers involved the Red Sox. Groome had a net loss of $433.54.
MLB also suspended Philadelphia Phillies minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez for one year. Rodríguez bet a total of $749.09 on baseball, with $724.09 of that placed on MLB-related wagers. He did not bet on any games involving his club.
Andrew Saalfrank, a pitcher in the Arizona Diamondbacks system, was found to have placed 28 MLB-related bets totaling $444.07. He also did not place any bets involving his club.
