Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday the league will cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations. 

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.

The sport has been rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who are accused of aiding gamblers by taking bribes to rig pitches.

Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. 

The committee is asking for responses to six questions by that date:

1. “How and when was MLB made aware of suspicious betting and game manipulation activity by Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide documents sufficient to support your response?”
2. “Provide documents sufficient to show MLB’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
3. “List any investigation into an MLB or affiliate team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners for violating MLB rules relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
4. “Provide all documents related to any investigation listed in response to Request 3, including: Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation; Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
5. Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
6. Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and
7. Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
8. “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers: Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
9. Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or
10. Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
11. “Explain the extent to which MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game rigging that have occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
12. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure;
13. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and
14. How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

MLB CRACKS DOWN WITH NEW BETTING LIMIT AFTER CLEVELAND PITCHERS CHARGED IN GAMBLING SCHEME

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave July 3 and Clase was placed on leave July 28. 

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said. 

Both Ortiz and Clase have pleaded not guilty. 

Clase and Ortiz were arrested and appeared in federal court in New York last week. Clase, a three-time All-Star, pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win money on his pitches. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Officials said in the indictment that, from May 2023 to June 2025, Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.

The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor to throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in specific games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets; June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.

Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.

Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.

When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.

The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.

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The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving alleged illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the alleged scheme.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Trailing most of the game with five transfer students still not declared eligible, top-ranked Sierra Canyon turned to point guard Jordan Askew to deliver a 67-65 win over Millikan on Wednesday night.

The Trailblazers forced a turnover and got the ball near midcourt with 3.3 seconds left in a 65-65 tie. Askew took the inbounds pass and drove to make a layup before the buzzer sounded for the win.

What a debut for Millikan freshman point guard Quali Giran. He finished with 31 points. The Trailblazers couldn’t stop him except at the end, when they put together a double team to create a turnover. He had made a 15-foot shot earlier, but the basket was nullified because of a foul called before the shot.

Stephen Kankole had 20 points, Jordan Mize 19 and Maxi Adams 13 points and 10 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.

Brentwood 84, Simi Valley 54: AJ Okoh scored 28 points and had seven assists, and Ethan Hill contributed 15 points and 14 rebounds for 2-0 Brentwood.

Fairmont Prep 58, Tesoro 45: Fairmont Prep advanced to the semifinals of the Ocean View tournament.

Westlake 55, Golden Valley 48: Axel Ostergard and Zachary Kalinski each scored 16 points for the 2-0 Warriors.

Inglewood 86, Long Beach Cabrillo 38: Kevin Singleton scored 26 points and Jason Crowe Jr. had 24 points for Inglewood.

Oaks Christian 67, Milken 41: Grayson Coleman had 20 points in his debut for Milken after transferring from Calabasas to play for his father.

The minute sports fans found out there was a new American pope and he’d been born in Chicago, every American sports fan had one thought: was he a Cubs or White Sox fan?

Soon, news emerged that he was a White Sox fan — not without a false report, however, that he was a Cubs fan — and shortly thereafter footage emerged that not only was the newly christened Pope Leo XIV a fan, he’d been in the stands for the 2005 World Series, which the White Sox won in a series sweep.

Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, was elected as pope in May of 2025 and then one month later it was announced that my Vanderbilt law school friend and classmate Justin Ishbia was buying the Chicago White Sox.

The two of us were chatting about fun ways Justin could introduce himself to Chicago sports fans and I tossed out an idea — we should travel to the Vatican and invite Pope Leo to throw out the first pitch at a planned new White Sox stadium.

After all, Pope Leo was a big enough White Sox fan that he’d attended the World Series 20 years ago as a fan in the crowd. Sure, he’s the pope now, but deep down he, like all of us, is a diehard sports fan.

We were both convinced the idea was a good one, but it presented a challenge: how do you get a meeting with the pope to invite him to throw out the first pitch?

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An Invitation to the Pope 

It’s not like you can just call the Vatican and ask to speak to the pope’s people.

Ultimately we hit on our answer: Vatican ambassador Brian Burch, who lived in Chicago with his family prior to his confirmation as ambassador.

Luckily, Ambassador Burch loved the idea and, this morning in Vatican City, Justin and his wife Kristen met the pope, delivered a team autographed 2005 White Sox World Series replica jersey, and conveyed the first pitch invitation to Pope Leo, who said yes so long as his schedule permits. (It turns out the pope is kind of busy).

So, the result, as many of you have likely seen on social media already, is an awesome one — the first ever American-born pope will be throwing out the first pitch in a new Chicago White Sox stadium, which will potentially mark the first time the pope has visited Chicago since 1979.

Let’s hope it’s a strike.

And that Pope Leo can help return the magic of the 2005 season for White Sox fans.