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Fixed games and gambling are nothing new in baseball, with players throwing games . But fixing a World Series was a different story. In 1919, the Chicago White Sox were the odds-on favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds, but eight team members conspired with gamblers to for hefty payouts. Rumors of fixes abounded after the first game, which the White Sox lost 9-1. But the series went on, with the White Sox ultimately losing five games to three.

The incident might have been swept under the rug, but nearly a year later, a grand jury started to of a regular-season game between the Cubs and the Phillies only to pivot to the White Sox's mysterious World Series loss the year before. Eight members of that White Sox team were indicted for conspiracy. While the players were acquitted in court, the MLB's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all eight players from the game for life.

One of the greatest baseball players ever will never be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame due to sports betting. In 1988, around Cincinnati Reds player-manager Pete Rose that—along with betting on —he had been betting on his own team to win since 1985. This was in direct violation of the MLB's Rule 21, which prohibits betting on baseball.

Then-MLB commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (father to actor Paul Giamatti) of Rose, which provided ample evidence to back up the allegations, including that Rose had spent at least betting on 50 individual Reds games in 1987. Rather than admit fault, Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from the sport in 1989.

Although Rose has formally asked to have his ban overturned, current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in 2015.

During his senior year, Arizona State star Stevin "Headake" Smith found himself from gambling on pro sports. And then he met the man who would change the trajectory of his life.

Bookie Benny Silman concocted a scheme that would not only help Smith pay off his gambling debts but earn him some cash on the side. Smith, with the help of teammate Isaac Burton Jr., through point shaving, a process where players miss points or let their opponents score to ensure that the final outcome didn't meet the point spread and help bookmakers earn a hefty payout.

Las Vegas sportsbooks soon noticed erratic bets on Arizona State games and called the FBI in to investigate. Smith and Burton pled guilty to conspiracy, and .

A gambling addiction drove NBA referee Tim Donaghy to about referees' game schedules, teams and athletes' relationships with specific referees, and players' health, feeding the details to his gambling associates for .

If he was right, the gamblers won big, and Donaghy got a payout. Donaghy also admitted that he gambled on games in which he had officiated, which would violate NBA rules. However, it was to affect the results of those games.

After the FBI started investigating his behavior, Donaghy and pled guilty to two counts of . Although his crimes carried a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, Donaghy only served 15 months of jail time and three years of probation. The NBA responded by getting more serious about game-fixing, implementing numerous systems to better monitor referees and suspicious bets.

While investigating Mathew Bowyer, an illegal bookmaker in California, federal agents discovered the name of baseball's biggest star on two wire transfer receipts. And just like that, Shohei Ohtani—who had signed a with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023—found himself in the middle of a gambling scandal.

Marked as "loans," the receipts , a fraction of the that came from the athlete's account to pay off the Ohtani's long-time interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, racked up between 2021 and 2023.

When the story originally broke in March 2024, Ohtani's camp said the ballplayer had sent the wire transfers to cover Mizuhara's debt. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara after it came out that the interpreter, who had had , made the payments without Ohtani's knowledge. Ohtani found out about the scandal at the same time as his teammates and has repeatedly said he had .

Mizuhari pled guilty to bank and tax fraud. As of May 2024, he faces a maximum sentence of 33 years in prison, a $1.25 million fine, and over $18 million in fines and restitution to Ohtani and his other victims. The MLB is conducting its own investigation of the matter.

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.