Last July, for 25 days, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase walked around the halls of Progressive Field, reclined his seat on team flights and sat beside fellow relievers in the bullpen. Business as usual.By this time, the league office had already placed Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz on paid leave. Clase allegedly roped him into a pitch-rigging scheme that now has both pitchers set to stand trial in November on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.Yet from July 3, 2025, until Clase, too, was placed on leave on July 28, the perennial All-Star acted as if nothing was brewing. “He just kept pitching,” one ex-teammate said.One year later, mention Clase’s name near a Guardians executive and their face will turn a shade of ill green or irate red, as they think about the decisions made and the disrespect shown to teammates and the organization — especially during those 25 days when MLB had Clase in its crosshairs.The saga has unfolded in court documents — many sealed, some revealed — filed to a judge in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y. Clase’s camp has blamed the whole ordeal on a misinterpretation of texts and calls pertaining to rooster fighting. The pitchers have tried to distance themselves from each other. The trial has been delayed six months. Federal prosecutors have sifted through tens of thousands of messages and documents. Cleveland fans continue to analyze every slider Clase ever spiked.Guardians players struggle to understand how Clase, a bit of a recluse, kept it cool. Players from other teams closely tracked each development in the case, too. They wondered how this could transpire, and tried to play detective. Did Clase and Ortiz throw them any rigged pitches?“I definitely remember going down the rabbit hole,” one player said.Prosecutors say Clase’s illicit activity began in May 2023, but it didn’t come to light for more than two years. Has MLB done enough to prevent this sort of scenario from repeating itself?In our annual anonymous player poll, in which The Athletic surveyed 100 players across 23 teams about a variety of MLB-related topics this spring, we asked exactly that:More than half of the players who participated in the poll believe that the league has devoted sufficient attention and resources to help prevent players from partnering with gamblers. More than a quarter of the participants either didn’t have a strong opinion or didn’t feel they had enough knowledge on the subject to provide a proper answer. The remaining 18 players were dissatisfied with the safeguards the league has instituted to prevent a situation akin to the Clase-Ortiz scandal.“It’s the first rule: Rule 21,” said one multi-time All-Star who believes the league has done its due diligence. “No betting on baseball.”