Shohei Ohtani is possibly the greatest baseball player we’ve even seen and is among the most famous athletes across the globe. So a story about him paying off his interpreter’s So-Cal bookie to the tune of $4.5 million was going to be big news. But it also came just as baseball season is starting. And even in the first few hours, the story changed. Somehow it went from being a bailout to a theft by Ippei Mizuhara, “the longtime friend and interpreter for Ohtani.” ESPN: Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter amid allegations. “Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara’s account and said Ohtani’s lawyers would issue a statement. ‘In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft.'” (Someone might mention the insane hypocrisy of having betting scandals in sports when professional sports leagues are the biggest pushers of sports betting.)

+ Defector: Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter Gives Two Different Stories. Will we ever get to the bottom of this story? There’s a lot of money and a lot of PR at stake for the MLB. Hell, I love it when bad things happen to the Dodgers and even I like Ohtani.

+ WaPo (Gift Article): Who is interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and what was his relationship with Shohei Ohtani?