What did Shohei Ohtani know about interpreter Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling and when? | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

Yahoo Sports senior MLB writers Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman react to Wednesday's intriguing news involving Los Angeles Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani, his longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara & a federal illegal gambling investigation. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara on Wednesday afternoon after Ohtani's lawyers alleged he had stole $4.5 million from the baseball star to pay illegal gambling debts. The story gets more complex from there, as Mintz & Shusterman examine: what did Ohtani know, when did he know it and how does this scandal fit in the current American landscape where sports & gambling are increasingly becoming intertwined? Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

JAKE MINTZ: What did Shohei know and when, right? I think Ohtani must have known something, because--

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Yes.

JAKE MINTZ: The idea, I think it is just so unhinged that Ohtani's representation, through Ippei, I guess, on Wednesday said that Ohtani had no knowledge of this. That's impossible to me.

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: But again, that's why-- I don't know if we know that they wanted Ippei to say that on Wednesday. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't. But to your point still, like, this goes back to zooming in on the fact that they were hanging out in the dugout during Wednesday's game, right? This goes back to what they could have discovered between when the reports start coming out to when the lawyers say, he's a victim of theft.

Did Ohtani learn something in that time, too, right? That is, I think, what is interesting, because it's possible that Ohtani did know. Yep, I had paid off his gambling debts, and hopefully, I was hoping no one would find out. But then, oh, I found out-- to your point-- it was actually worse. There was stuff happening that I didn't know. But the idea that he-- the idea that Ippei's statement is saying, he knew nothing about any of this, I just don't believe it at all, at all.

JAKE MINTZ: I don't believe it at all. But there's also a reason that Ohtani's lawyers would have made that claim on Wednesday. I find it hard to believe that Ohtani's lawyers are bad lawyers.

[LAUGHTER]

Right? To me, there is a reason that the lawyers switched up their strategy. I want to be very clear about something. This is the point I believe the strongest that Ohtani was not gambling. I think he would have been more in the red than $4.5 million, because, boy, he has so much cash to burn. But more importantly, deferring $68 million a year is not something somebody who is a compulsive gambler with $4.5 million of gambling debts would do.

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: I don't feel as strongly about that, but sure.

JAKE MINTZ: Next thing, stop, for the love of God, stop making this about Pete Rose. Please! Pete Rose is a bad person, who did many bad things beyond anything related to gambling. MLB's embrace of the world of gambling is a concern. Sports as a whole, the embrace of gambling is a concern, but that does not make Pete Rose a hero. So just keep his name out of your mouth.

The embrace of gambling is uncomfortable. And stories like this happening are a relatively logical endpoint of gambling being more accessible and acceptable and shoved down our throats as sports fans. You can understand how Shohei or Ippei would be like, yeah, gambling, it's around all the time. It's just like going on sportsbook.com. And so that part of it makes me feel icky.

JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: That's fair. No, I mean, it's, again, we're still in the early stages, not just of the story, but just of that reality of our existence in this media space. So unfortunately, it won't be the first, or won't be the last. We'll more stories like this. And we just have to hope that they don't always involve the most important people in our sport.