Papelbon: MLB brought in FBI informants to deter players from gambling

The Shohei Ohtani saga has taken the world by storm, as has sports gambling in recent years. With the legalization of sports betting and the growth of major sportsbooks, many are wondering if Ohtani or other players have bet on or against themselves.

Former MLB closer Jonathan Papelbon told Rob Bradford of the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” about the lengths the league goes to to dissuade players from gambling.

“They brought some of the mob members in,” Papelbon said (13:00 in player above). “Gambling is such a big deal. They’ve brought former FBI informants with the mob with gambling rings in the mob to come talk in spring training about ‘Don’t get sucked into gambling. Stay clean. Don’t get into that world because once you get into it you’re done.’

“That’s how serious this is, man. We’re trying to keep the game clean. Once the game gets infiltrated it’s done.”

Pete Rose is one of the most infamous players in baseball due to his lifetime ban for betting on games. But he may not be the only player to have bet on baseball and he absolutely hasn’t been the only player to get approached about gambling.

“Yes, 1000%, especially young guys and especially guys that are in my position like a closer who can really affect a game,” Papelbon continued. “I could’ve affected every game that I played in. Literally. To the amount of we can still win but I can let another run score, cover, be OK, nobody would ever know, to that extent.

“As a player, I don’t think it happens as much as you think that they get approached but they do. It does happen to players.”

The waters of sports gambling are only going to get murkier as leagues partner with different sportsbooks and odds are integrated into broadcasts.