Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday, June 4th that San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been banned from MLB for life after an investigation revealed he betted on the sport, including bets placed on games his team was playing.
Marcano, a native of Tucupita, Venezuela, embarked on his professional baseball journey when he signed with the Padres as an international free agent in 2016. He then spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before the Padres claimed him off waivers in 2023. He spent the first part of the 2024 season on the injured list, recovering from ACL surgery.
Under MLB’s official rules, “Any player, umpire or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Marcano was not the only player to be disciplined for betting on baseball. Padres player Jay Groome, Philadelphia Phillies’ José Rodríguez, Arizona Diamondbacks’ Andrew Saalfrank, and Oakland Athletics’ Michael Kelly have all been suspended for one year for betting.
Per ESPN, “Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of all of his MLB-related bets, according to the league.”
Per MLB, Marcano placed 231 bets on baseball games, totaling $87,319, which included 25 bets on the Pirates while he was a Pirates player.
This ends a promising MLB career for Marcano, though it also shows a glaring issue for Major League Baseball. While searching for any information regarding his ban on ESPN’s website, one has to see at least two betting line links and an advertisement for “ESPNBet.” When the news airs on MLB Network or Sportscenter, there will inevitably be advertisements for gambling apps, all accessible through one’s smartphone.
So if the league wishes to continue a strict gambling policy, the optics will continue to raise questions of hypocrisy and fairness.