Cardinals Part Of MLB’s Biggest Scandal Of 2025

It was a big day across Major League Baseball on Thursday.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz under investigation investigation by Major League Baseball due to potential gambling question marks. Ortiz's investigation reportedly centers around two specific pitches from this season that Ortiz threw for balls that triggered betting alerts.

The St. Louis Cardinals inadvertently played a role in the scandal as one of those two pitches were against the club toward the end of June.

"Cleveland Guardians right-hander Luis Ortiz is under investigation by Major League Baseball after a betting-integrity firm flagged a pair of pitches that had received unusual gambling activity, sources told ESPN on Thursday," Passan said. "Sources said betting-integrity firm IC360 sent an alert in June to sportsbook operators regarding Ortiz, whom MLB has placed on "non-disciplinary paid leave" through July 17.

"The alert, according to sources who reviewed it, referenced action on Ortiz's first pitches in select innings to be a ball or a hit batsman in two games: June 15 against the Seattle Mariners and June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals. In both the bottom of the second inning against the Mariners and the top of the third inning against the Cardinals, Ortiz threw a first-pitch slider that was well outside the strike zone."

You can find Passan's entire striking report right here.

The Cardinals obviously didn't do anything wrong in this scenario. It's still wild that they now are at least slightly involved in the scandal.