Baseball fans are trying to make sense of the surprise scandal that enveloped one of the game's biggest stars on the very first day of the season. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers has not been accused of any wrongdoing himself, but the Japanese player's interpreter has been fired over gambling accusations. It could be a while before the full story is unraveled. Coverage:
- Ohtani's name surfaced in a federal investigation of a California bookmaker because $4.5 million was transferred from the player's bank account to the bookmaker, as first reported by ESPN and the Los Angeles Times.
- But Ohtani himself isn't accused of gambling. Instead, friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara told ESPN that he (Mizuhara) racked up the gambling debt and that he asked Ohtani to cover it. "Obviously, he wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again," Mizuhara told the outlet on Tuesday. "He decided to pay it off for me."