Does Shohei have the locks?

For the past number of weeks, Shohei Ohtani’s long-time friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been under investigation. In a very complicated storyline, Mizuhara allegedly transferred four and a half million dollars from Ohtani’s account, and has been officially accused of “massive theft.” This theft has been connected to an illegal bookmaker, the title for somebody who illegally collects bets in anticipation of paying out if the bettor wins. The baseball world is waiting for an answer. Many feel that Ohtani’s interpreter may be covering for Ohtani himself—even though the initial allegation was against Mizuhara. Everyone wants to know who’s behind this illegal act to get a sense of justice, but not me. My main concern: who has the locks?

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. If the consensus face of baseball was betting in the dugout, that would either put Major League Baseball (MLB) out of business, or catch the eye of more degenerates. If worse comes to worst, at least Ohtani can become your typical Los Angeles Instagram betting handicapper. 

It is a little bit weird that MLB is allowing Ohtani to play through this investigation. Typically, when athletes are involved in legal cases, they take some time off to get everything in order. I do have a theory as to why he doesn’t want to take off time, however. I mean let’s be real, how is that Dodgers World Series future bet going to cash if Ohtani isn’t out there on the field?

It is also worth noting that the Dodgers’ newly acquired pitcher, Yoshinubo Yamamoto, made his first start in the 2024 Seoul Series. His first start went horribly wrong, but was it worse than all of us thought? The broadcast of the game cut to Ohtani and Mizuhara looking visibly angry in the dugout. Was this simply because Ohtani made it very clear that he recommended the Dodgers sign Yamamoto to a record-setting 12-year 325 million dollar contract, or…was it because Yamamoto just sold his no runs first inning (NRFI) bet? But hey, at least Ohtani didn’t have to wake up at 6 a.m. to see that disasterclass. Anywho, these are the real questions we should be asking.

Ohtani came out on Monday, Mar. 25, and spoke to the media for the first time since the allegations were made public. Ohtani explained how Mizuhara has been, “stealing money from his account,” and, “telling lies this whole time.” Ohtani and Mizuhara were even in the dugout together the day before the news broke out, seemingly acting friendly. Did Ohtani not realize that Mizuhara had stolen money from his account? Not only some money, but four and a half million dollars? I mean, give me a break, I would realize if my account was missing four dollars for crying out loud!

I think we can all agree that we want this situation to go smoothly and be resolved quickly. The MLB season is just around the corner and a lot of fans are excited to see what round this stacked Dodgers team will be eliminated in come playoff time. It would only be fair that Ohtani plays as many games as possible.

At the end of the day, we fans can only hope that Ohtani isn’t behind all this madness. Only time will tell, however, but it would be a huge blow to the MLB if they lost the second-best player in the game (Aaron Judge > Shohei Ohtani—a hill I’m willing to die on).