Elephant Rumblings: MLB’s gambling problem

Happy Wednesday, Athletics Nation!

After over a decade in professional baseball and at age 31, A’s reliever Michael Kelly was finally gaining some traction in his big league career and establishing himself as a key piece in the Oakland bullpen. He probably didn’t see that happening in 2021, when he broke a cardinal rule of the sport and bet less than a Benjamin on baseball games in which he did not participate. Kelly was handed a one year suspension for the infraction.

Nobody is going to nominate Kelly for a MacArthur genius award for those wagers, but he was in the Astros system when these indiscretions took place, and it has become abundantly apparent in recent years that cheating is a mandatory rite of passage in Houston’s organization.

Jokes aside, though, Kelly’s suspension seems pretty disproportionate considering that no Houston Astros player received any punishment for participating in technology-assisted sign stealing in 2017, the year the Astros won their first World Series title*. And given the high level of synergy between MLB and the gambling industry today, from which the league must certainly profit considerably, this latest crackdown seems a bit sanctimonious and maybe just a tad hypocritical.

John Shea at the San Francisco Chronicle examined MLB’s complicated relationship with gambling in which the league profits from increasingly lucrative sponsorships while appearing to maintain a zero tolerance policy towards Rule 21 gambling infractions.

All signs indicate that MLB will continue developing deeper ties to the gambling industry. Is it time to loosen the rules on gambling among league employees? Certainly, betting on games in which one has a duty to perform should remain strictly forbidden, but the league seems to have lost the moral authority needed to credibly maintain its stringent, decades-old gambling prohibitions. For Michael Kelly, a reprimand plus fine of $127.55 plus interest seems about right to me.

A’s Coverage:

• A’s lose to Mariners on Oakland Ballers’ Opening Night
• A’s roster moves: Sean Newcomb activated, Vinny Nittoli promoted
• Michael Kelly suspended for one year for violating MLB’s sports betting rules
• Suspension of A’s pitcher Michael Kelly shines a light on MLB’s gambling hypocrisy ($)
• Miller’s newest heater? A Skenes special
• A’s move to play more games outside of Vegas could undercut stadium finances by millions
• ‘Everything is about Oakland’ as fans fill Raimondi Field for Ballers’ home opener ($)

MLB News & Interest:

• MLB announces sports betting suspensions for 5 players
• Major League Baseball Closes Investigation Involving Shohei Ohtani, Ippei Mizuhara
• MLB Power Rankings: A new No. 1 arrives; our picks for first-time All-Star noms ($)
• Five top prospects sliding down the rankings after poor starts to the season — Keith Law ($)
• Cristian Javier To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
• 2024-25 Player Option/Opt-Out Preview: June Edition
• Shota Imanaga is becoming a star. How did baseball not see this coming? ($)
• Mariners’ Owner: Front Office Will Have Resources To Pursue Deadline Upgrades
• Road to Rickwood: What Giants-Cards game could mean to Negro Leagues, Birmingham ($)
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Comic.

Ironies.

Roster moves.

Boyle throwing strikes...mostly.

Ballers brew looks tasty.

Big home opener for the Ballers.

Mayor Thao on hand.