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Ex-Cleveland Guardians pitchers, including star reliever, go to trial in New York on fraud charges

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The Associated Press. (2026, November 2). Ex-Cleveland Guardians pitchers, including star reliever, go to trial in New York on fraud charges. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ex-cleveland-guardians-pitchers-including-star-reliever-go-to-trial-in-new-york-on-fraud-charges/article_a5b9ebef-01b8-5853-a0af-36359b097143.html

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Toronto Star · collected 2026-11-02 · by The Associated Press

Quick Summary

Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are set to go on trial in Brooklyn federal court on Monday, facing charges of accepting bribes from gamblers who used the information for profitable prop bets, accumulating at least $460,000 in winnings. Prosecutors claim that Clase began providing pitch data to the bettors in 2023 and recruited Ortiz into the scheme a year later. The trial is expected to last a month with witnesses including other players and executives scheduled to testify. Both pitchers are on nondisciplinary leave from the club and have pleaded not guilty, facing charges that include wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
Written by AI on 2026-11-02, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, including star reliever Clase, are going on trial in Brooklyn federal court starting Monday on charges of accepting bribes to collude with gamblers who made at least $460,000 betting correctly on individual pitches. The trial is expected to last a month and could determine the future careers and freedom of both pitchers. According to an indictment, Clase began providing inside information in 2023 and recruited Ortiz into the scheme in 2025. Both have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and are currently on leave from the club without pay. The judge has ruled that prosecutors cannot show evidence of tax debt owed by Clase due to late submission, but their careers hang in the balance as several professional baseball players and executives will testify during the trial.

Written for “Ex-Cleveland Guardians Pitchers Go To Trial” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Ex-Cleveland Guardians Pitchers Go To Trial
Sports · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 19% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Independent
Hedges 3 of 16 claims Outlet record 59/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
19%
3 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
2
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-02 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 11094 article(s) · 28 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

The Associated Press
1757 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 Mitch Marsh will lead both of the Australian white-ball squads.
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🔮 Infielder Teruaki Sato of the Central League’s Hanshin Tigers and right-handers Kaima Taira of the Saitama Seibu Lions and Hiromi Itoh of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the Pacific League are entering Major League Baseball’s posting system and will be available to teams to sign as a free agent from Monday until Dec. 16.
🔮 But on the following possession, Wagner couldn’t sink a layup to give Orlando the lead.
🔮 Their careers and possibly their freedom are at stake in the jury trial expected to unfold over the next month in Brooklyn federal court.
🔮 “We feel he will bring a strong, two-way game to our team and will add to the pace of our lineup.
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🔮 Ferrero will be joining Shelton’s father, Bryan, in the coaching setup.
Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 1757 articles by The Associated Press →

Topics

Brooklyn Cleveland Guardians Dominican Republic Guardians NEW YORK

Subjects

Clase PERSON · 6× Ortiz PERSON · 5× Guardians ORG · 3× Brooklyn GPE · 1× Cleveland Guardians ORG · 1× Dominican Republic GPE · 1× Emmanuel Clase PERSON · 1× Kiyo A. Matsumoto PERSON · 1× Luis Ortiz PERSON · 1× NEW YORK GPE · 1×

Narrative

On Friday, the judge ruled that prosecutors cannot show the jury proof that Clase owed $500,000 in U.S. taxes because they had only provided the evidence to defense lawyers several days earlier and long after a deadline had passed to turn over evidence to their adversaries.
framing: assertive · carried by 2 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-02
🔮 Their careers and possibly their freedom are at stake in the jury trial expected to unfold over the next month in Brooklyn federal court.

Claims (16 extracted, 3 hedged)

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz go to trial Monday on charges that they accepted bribes as they colluded with gamblers who made hundreds of thousands of dollars betting correctly on individual pitches. asserted
who → go → pitches
Their careers and possibly their freedom are at stake in the jury trial expected to unfold over the next month in Brooklyn federal court. uncertain
careers → expect → court
Several professional baseball players, including catchers and baseball executives, are among witnesses expected to testify. asserted
players → include → witnesses
Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and are on nondisciplinary leave from the club without pay while their fate is determined. asserted
fate → plead → pay
According to an indictment, the pitchers accepted several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on in-game prop bets on the speed and outcome of certain pitches. uncertain
gamblers → accord → pitches
Prosecutors allege that Clase began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 and recruited Ortiz into the scheme in 2025. asserted
Clase → allege → 2025
Lawyers for Ortiz unsuccessfully sought to have Ortiz tried separately from Clase. asserted
Ortiz → seek → Clase
Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto said at a conference Friday that she hopes to complete jury selection quickly enough that lawyers can deliver relatively short opening statements in the afternoon. asserted
lawyers → say → afternoon
Clase, 28, is a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year who had completed his fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract when charges against the pitchers were revealed in November 2025. asserted
charges → complete → November
Ortiz, 27, had earned $782,600 as a starting pitcher for the Guardians during the 2025 season. asserted
Ortiz → earn → season
The pitchers have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. asserted
pitchers → charge → bribery
Defense lawyers are expected to argue that the pitchers did not collude with gamblers and instead were varying the placement of pitches strategically to fool batters. asserted
pitchers → expect → batters
On Friday, the judge ruled that prosecutors cannot show the jury proof that Clase owed $500,000 in U.S. taxes because they had only provided the evidence to defense lawyers several days earlier and long after a deadline had passed to turn over evidence to their adversaries. asserted
deadline → rule → adversaries
A prosecutor had argued that the government wanted to put the evidence in the trial to offset any claim by Clase’s lawyers that he had no incentive to collude with gamblers because he had several million dollars in financial accounts in the Dominican Republic. uncertain
he → argue → Republic
Major League Baseball and the Guardians have both said they’ve fully cooperated with authorities. asserted
they → say → authorities
MLB has said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity. asserted
it → say → activity
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