While the MLB season was beginning in Seoul, South Korea, the sports world was rocked after Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and close friend, Ippie Mizuhara, was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers for “massive theft.”
The reason for Mizuhara’s firing was that Ohtani claimed the interpreter stole money to cover a gambling debt that amounted to $4.5 million.
Ohtani’s lawyers accused Mizuhara after the public learned that Ohtani’s name was in connection with a federal investigation regarding alleged illegal booker Mathew Bowyer. The association prompted MLB to open an investigation into the scandal as well.
Mizuhara had been Ohtani’s personal interpreter since the Japanese two-way star signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017. During his time with the Angels, the two appeared to have formed a close friendship. Mizuhara even resigned from his position to continue working with Ohtani during the 2021-22 MLB lockout. Mizuhara would not have been allowed to continue working with him due to restrictions placed on organizations affiliating with players during the work stoppage. After Ohtani signed his record-breaking 10-year $700 million contract with the Dodgers, the largest in sports history, Mizuhara joined him.
Originally, in a 90-minute interview with Tisha Thompson of ESPN, Mizuhara explained that Ohtani agreed to bail him out of his debt by wiring the funds. Once the news broke, Mizuhara ultimately walked back his statement and said that Ohtani did not know of the debts or the addiction.
In a public statement to the media, Ohtani said he “never bet on baseball or any other sports, or have never asked somebody to do on my behalf and I have never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
Nevertheless, the scandal is already leading to negative headlines with a federal investigation along with MLB’s own already underway. Therefore, more should be revealed soon as to why an interpreter had access to Ohtani’s bank account and was able to allegedly transfer so much money to pay a bookie.
Whatever the outcome of the investigations may be, it is certainly not good for baseball in any way and is concerning for sports as a whole. For years, fans have worried about any association with athletes and gambling, especially with baseball and its dark betting history.
Unfortunately, although baseball is “America’s favorite pastime,” it is certainly not America’s current favorite sport. Even with the new rule changes that were supposed to attract more fans, attendance per game in 2023 could not crack 30,000. Along with this, the viewership of the sports marquee event, the World Series, went back down in 2023 to just over 9 million viewers per game. The drop comes after two years of an average of close to 12 million viewers but nowhere near the regular 20-plus million the sport attracted from 1973 to 2004, with some years reaching well into the 30 and 40 million range.
The fall classic and baseball as a whole are unable to compete with the likes of football, which averaged over 18 million per game in 2023, along with 123 million viewers watching the Super Bowl, the most-watched program in U.S. television history. It is virtually impossible for baseball to reach these numbers in the United States, but if the current stacked Dodgers team can get over the hump and back into the World Series, fans from all over the world are going to tune in to see Ohtani on the big stage.
With all this being said, baseball cannot afford any speculation around its biggest star and face of the game. With Ohtani’s two-way ability and national and international appeal, he is the type of player who can counteract the downward trend in popularity more than anybody else. The phenom is already being dubbed as the greatest player of all time by some, and he isn’t even halfway done with his career.
He is not only most baseball fan’s favorite and most popular player, but he is also some player’s favorite as well. Each year, Ohtani’s jersey is number one on best-selling lists, and there is no sign of that trend stopping as long as he remains in the game. His name in association with anything negative is the absolute last thing that baseball needs.
Ohtani and baseball are swimming in dangerous waters, regardless of the outcome of the investigations. If he is convicted of any wrongdoing and the worst that people fear is true, then Ohtani’s name could be said in the same sentence as players like Pete Rose and those involved in The Black Sox Scandal who violated the integrity of the game. If Ohtani is indeed telling the truth and he did nothing wrong, there will be those who say baseball swept something under the rug and do not believe the result.
Either way, baseball is sure to be in for a saga, with any conclusion looking bleak for the sport. In the end, baseball needs Ohtani more than Ohtani needs baseball.
