MLB remains ‘vigilant’ when it comes to sports gambling: Rob Manfred

TORONTO – Major League Baseball has not been immune to sports betting invading the modern game, with two pitchers still on non-disciplinary leave as part of a gambling investigation.

But in light of the NBA’s gambling scandal this week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Saturday that the NBA remains “vigilant” on sports betting issues.

“Obviously our first priority is protecting the integrity of the game,” Manfred said before Game 2 of the World Series at Rogers Center. “We think we have great systems in place that allow us to do that. In addition, we’ve worked very hard to provide players with resources to make sure they feel comfortable and have an outlet if they have a concern regarding sports betting-related issues.”

Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, said Friday that the safety and well-being of players is “of paramount importance,” with many facing threats from gamblers.

The league’s investigation into Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz, meanwhile, remains “ongoing,” Manfred said Saturday, as it tries to determine exactly what happened. The core of the investigation relates to pitches thrown by Ortiz that generated “suspicious betting” during games in June.

“The most important thing we can do is make sure we have systems in place that give us access to data, allowing you to determine if something aberrational is going on,” Manfred said. “If you get that, you need to do a thorough investigation, make sure you understand exactly what caused that abnormality, and then you need to discipline them.”

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The night before he crushed a historic grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series, Addison Barger slept on his teammate’s couch.

OK, so it was a pull-out couch in Davis Schneider’s hotel room that overlooks the Rogers Center field. But it worked so well, with Barger crushing the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, that he returned to the bench for another night of sleep ahead of Saturday’s Game 2, according to a social media post from Schneider’s sister.

“He’s an enigma, but he’s funny,” Davis Schneider said.

A night after playing his first game since September 6 due to a sprained left knee, Bo Bichette was out of the Blue Jays lineup for Game 2 but grounded out in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter for former Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who instead started at second base against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

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Bichette, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in Game 1 before being targeted by Kiner-Falefa, was clearly still bothered by the knee despite his strong return. He made a big play on a ground ball up the middle that saved a run in the third inning, but came forward gingerly, favoring his left leg.

“He felt pretty good after the game,” Schneider said. “To check in with him today probably feels a little bit better than he expected. Again, when we put him on the roster, we did it because we thought he could help us win, which he did [Friday]and bearing in mind he hasn’t played for seven weeks.”

Max Scherzer will start Game 3 for the Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium, followed by Shane Bieber in Game 4. The Dodgers will throw Tyler Glasnow in Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani in Game 4.

– Additional reporting by Jon Heyman