Earlier this week, we found out that Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz wants to have his trial separate from Emmanuel Clase’s as the two fight against the accusations of pitch rigging.
On Friday we found out another even more depressing development that will make Clase even more of a public enemy No. 1 in Cleveland.
According to a story from The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel and Mike Vorkunov, documents unsealed on Friday allege that Clase engaged in the illegal sport gambling scheme during the 2024 postseason.
While the number of pitches that Clase is alleged to have doctored keeps rising, there had never been any reporting/court documents about Clase’s alleged misgivings happening in the postseason. But now that genie is out of the bottle that will likely never go back in.
Latest allegations about Emmanuel Clase confirm Guardians fans’ worst fears
Per the indictment cited in Mesiel and Vorkunov’s story, Clase spoke with the alleged bettors using a code where they used the words “chicken” and “rooster” to refer to batters that Clase would throw doctored pitches to.
The prosecutors also unveiled evidence that Clase threw two rigged pitches in the Guardians’ Game 1 win over the Tigers in the 2024 American League American League Division Series.
Clase entered the game with the Guardians winning 7-0 and set the Tigers down in order, but prosecutors have deemed at least one of the pitches thrown in the outing to be suspicious.
Mesiel and Vorkunov also wrote that prosecutors have identified 15 times from 2023 to 2025 where they allege that Clase threw pitches to help bettors make money on him.
That rising number is the reason why Ortiz wants his trial to be separate since he believes that he was duped into participating in the scheme.
We also got some more information about Robinson Vasquez Germosen, who is one of the accused bettors. He allegedly served as a middleman between the two, stayed at Clase’s home in Cleveland and is accused of lying to federal agents during an interview that was done as a part of the investigation.
While it seems like the ship had long sailed on Clase returning to the Guardians, these new accusations rise to a new level considering they happened during the postseason. To do it during the regular season is obviously bad, but to do it on the biggest stage is even worse.
Clase was placed on paid leave at the end of July and is still on leave. The Guardians have yet to get any resolution as to whether or not they’ll need to pay the $6.4 million that Clase is owed for 2026.
Clase’s trial is set to begin May 4 in Brooklyn, N.Y., but it’s hard to believe there won’t be at least some kind of delay. But even if there’s not a delay, that trial date means that this case is going to bleed into the start of the Guardians’ season, regardless of how it ends.