Five stories on the LA Times homepage about Say It Aint Shoheigate of various softness, and several from desks other than the Sports section which is interesting/good
But one piece that’s glaringly missing from the Times’ newfound love of listicles
17 Burning Unanswered Questions
1. Are we really supposed to believe Shohei didn’t know his BFF of 11 years wasn’t a compulsively unsuccessful gambler?
2. Do we truly believe an out-of-control gambler losing his shirt to the sum of millions would never bet on the sport he knows something about intimately, baseball?
3. Why is it out of the question that Shohei, who has mastered every aspect of baseball/life/finance/popularity might find a thrill into delving into the uncontrollable world of sports gambling like we saw another titan of his sport do: Michael Jordan?
4. Are we to believe Shohei nor his accountants would know immediately if 40k was missing from his bank account, let alone $4.5 million?
5. Why would Shohei’s people rush Ippei Mizuhara to an on-the-record 90 minute interview with ESPN if they didn’t know he would say, in great detail, how his gambling problem led to Ohtani bailing him out financially (thus implicating the star)?
6. Since when does the press “disavow” statements a subject makes in a 90 minute interview simply because PR flacks say so the next day?
7. Did Arte Moreno know about Ohtani/Mizuhara’s alleged gambling issues and knew this would eventually come out and that’s why he didn’t unload the two-way player last year in exchange for a trove of young players… because Moreno has a conscious, weirdly, and just wanted to get rid of the problem his foes the Dodgers are now up to their necks with?
8. What bookie lets a man worth less than $1 million rack up a $4.5 million debt unless that man is actually placing bets for a man worth far more than $4.5 million?
9. If the Dodgers suspended Trevor Bauer (with pay) for allegations of wrongdoing even after it was determined no laws had been broken, while MLB investigated, why isn’t Shohei being suspended during this investigation?
10. If we are to believe Ippei stole millions from Shohei, are we truly going to pretend the superstar gave his interpreter the password to his multi-million bank accounts and the ability to just wire fortunes without two form authorization?
11. Regardless of how this shakes out, shouldn’t MLB cut ties with the gambling orgs it embarrassingly finds themselves in bed with right now, because, in part, what sort of message is this sending the kids?
12. Can anything be believed by Mizuhara or Ohtani’s camp once they disavowed the ESPN interview because now we have two completely different stories, thus one is a lie, and if you lie once, who’s to say that was the only lie?
13. Does this put all the fishy things in Ohtani’s past into doubt (feel free to make another listicle)?
14. Why should we believe, as ESPN is reporting today, that the first time Ohtani learned that his BFF “stole” from him was in the locker room when Mizuhara apologized to the team, including to Shohei? Why wouldn’t the two men, often joined at the hip, have discussed this before the apology?
15. When did the gambling begin? When did it reach $1 million, $2 million and $3 million in debt? Was it all in the last year? Has it been going on for a decade?
16. How did Mizuhara (and his wife’s) lifestyle change once he began living a life as a negative millionaire? And how are we to believe his BFF Ohtani didn’t notice?
17. Will MLB, the LA Times, and the Dodgers admit now that gambling is something that can quickly spiral out of control making even the best people do the worst things that ruin their lives, thus forgiveness to Pete Rose come before letting Ohtani and Mizuhara wiggle off the hook?