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Trial for Guardians’ Clase, Ortiz likely to be pushed to October

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NEW YORK — A scheduled spring fraud trial for two Cleveland Guardians pitchers accused of colluding with sports bettors to rig bets and betray “America’s pastime” will likely be postponed until October, a federal judge said Wednesday as the men pleaded not guilty to a rewritten indictment.

Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto left a May 4 trial date on the books for now, but indicated she’ll probably move it to the fall in the coming weeks.

Pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, speaking Spanish, entered not guilty pleas through a translator to a rewritten indictment in Brooklyn federal court.

No new charges were in the superseding indictment unsealed on Friday, as prosecutors charged a third individual with serving as a middleman between bettors and Clase. That person also pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

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The pitchers were first charged in November with accepting several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 by placing more than 100 in-game prop bets and parlays on the speed and the outcome of certain pitches. Charges include wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests.

The rewritten indictment released Friday added allegations that Clase used code words like “rooster” and “chicken” in communications about pitches to be thrown.

Prior to a May 18, 2025, game against the Cincinnati Reds, Clase received a message to “throw a rock at the first rooster in today’s fight” and responded with: “Yes, of course, that’s an easy toss to that rooster,” the indictment said. However, Clase never entered the game and could not fulfill the plan to throw outside the strike zone to the first batter he faced, it added.

A day earlier, though, Clase broke Major League Baseball rules by using his cellphone in the middle of a game against the Reds to signal to gamblers that a pitch would be outside the strike zone, enabling them to win about $27,000, the indictment said.

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Clase, the Guardians’ former closer, and Ortiz, a starter, have been on non-disciplinary paid leave since July. Their teammates are just starting training camp for the new season. The team’s home opener is April 3.

Clase and Ortiz, who are free on bail, left the courthouse separately after Wednesday’s hearing. Neither commented. Lawyers for both men have insisted their clients never colluded with gamblers.

Lawyers for Ortiz have asked that he be tried separately, saying in court papers that if Clase passed along Ortiz’s pitching strategy to gamblers, he did so without Ortiz’s knowledge. They also noted that Ortiz is accused of throwing only two pitches that drew scrutiny over a 12-day span, while Clase is charged with colluding with gamblers on numerous pitches since 2023.

“Mr. Clase may have abused his relationship with Mr. Ortiz as friends and teammates by convincing Mr. Ortiz to throw certain pitches at certain times — ostensibly for baseball reasons as far as Mr. Ortiz was aware,” the lawyers wrote.

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They said they might present a defence to the jury that would cast “Ortiz as a victim of Mr. Clase’s scheme, rather than a knowing and willing participant.”

Clase, a three-time All-Star, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract. Prosecutors say he started providing bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t seek payoffs until last year.

Prosecutors have said that Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary last season, joined the scheme last June.

The Guardians and Major League Baseball have said they are cooperating with the investigation. MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity.

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Winter Olympics live: Curling score and updates as Team GB face nervous wait for semi-final spot

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19 February 2026

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Team GB women still have hope

Our focus this morning is on the men’s curling competition but after that we’ll turn our attention to the women’s tournament, where Team GB kept their slim hopes of qualification alive with a brilliant Wednesday.

“The shot of her life” from Rebecca Morrison snatched an unlikely 8-7 win over USA in the morning session, as GB stole two in the final end, before they followed that up with a 9-3 thrashing of Japan.

GB now need to beat hosts Italy from 1.05pm and hope other results go their way. It’ll be nervy!

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Luke Baker19 February 2026 08:25

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Men’s curling: Norway v Canada and Italy v Switzerland updates

Right, the final set of men’s curling round robin matches at this Winter Olympics are about to get underway.

Team GB did their job yesterday and now can only watch, hoping either Norway or Italy lose to send them through to the semi-finals.

We’ll be bringing you regular updates from Norway v Canada and Italy v Switzerland, which are about to get underway. Je suis Swiss-Canadian…

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Luke Baker19 February 2026 08:05

What do Team GB need to qualify for semi-finals this morning?

After Team GB beat USA in their final round robin game yesterday to end with a 5-4 record they now need either Norway to lose their final match to already-qualified Canada or Italy to lose their final match to unbeaten Switzerland. Both those games are on this morning from 8.05am GMT.

If either of those two teams get a win, they will finish on 5-4, the same as GB, and would move above the Brits as they hold the head-to-head advantage.

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Hammy McMillan of Britain and Bobby Lammie of Britain react during the match against United States
Hammy McMillan of Britain and Bobby Lammie of Britain react during the match against United States (Reuters)

Luke Baker19 February 2026 08:01

Bruce Mouat: ‘This is a horrible position to be in’

Things couldn’t have gone much better for Team GB’s men’s curlers yesterday afternoon, beating USA and having two other results go their way.

GB skip Bruce Mouat discussed the victory and admitted to feeling helpless as they watch on this morning.

“It was a bit of a scary first end,” Mouat told the BBC. “But we just turned the momentum straight away and then we forced them into some tricky shots, and he [US skip Daniel Casper] was a bit heavy on a few draws, so we got a few breaks which we probably haven’t seen all week. It was nice.

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On needing other results to go your way: “This is a horrible position to be in, honestly! Just having to watch other games and hope that the results are going our way is not the ideal position to be in.

“But so far so good and we obviously need tomorrow probably to be the same. We’re just gonna have to sit and keep our fingers and our toes crossed and see what happens.”

(Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Luke Baker19 February 2026 07:52

The curling twist giving Great Britain hope of Winter Olympics great escape

Great Britain are on a knife edge between curling catastrophe and the great escape – and there is nothing more they can do about it.

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Just as their Winter Olympics dreams were circling the drain after a shocking collapse in form, Bruce Mouat’s rink played like the world champions they are to keep their medal hopes alive for at least another day.

They finished their round-robin campaign with the kind of confident and dominant victory they were expected to produce consistently in Cortina, wiping the floor with the USA 9-2, to finish with a 5-4 record from nine games.

It was a timely reminder – both to themselves, their doubters and their rivals – that they are still a world-class team capable of blowing all the others out of the water.

Luke Baker19 February 2026 07:51

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3 times Shivam Dube bailed India out of a tricky situation in T20Is ft. Asia Cup 2025 final

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19 February 2026

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The understated and often underappreciated Shivam Dube produced another heroic effort with the bat in India’s final T20 World Cup 2026 group stage clash against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on February 18. The 32-year-old scored a brilliant 31-ball 66 when India were in trouble at 69/3 in nine overs.

Dube is enjoying an excellent start with the bat this year, averaging 38.83 at a strike rate of 208.03 in nine T20Is. The tall left-hander has been a regular in the Indian T20I side since 2024, when the side triumphed in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.

He has been impressive in the ongoing edition, averaging 29 at an average of over 178 in four matches.

While consistency and versatility haven’t always been Shivam Dube’s calling cards, his unique skillset against spin in the middle-order has made him an irreplaceable force. More recently, since becoming a regular in the playing XI, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-hander has also evolved as India’s savior when the team is in trouble.

His most recent heroics against the Netherlands aside, Dube has bailed India out of dire straits frequently in the past.

Here, we look at three such instances when Shivam Dube saved Team India from the blushes in a tricky situation in T20Is.

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#1 Asia Cup 2025 final

The first thing that comes up when Team India fans discuss Shivam Dube is his pivotal knock in the Asia Cup 2025 final against Pakistan in Dubai. The Men in Blue were red-hot favorites entering the game, having won all six of their previous matches in the tournament.

Yet, come the big occasion against their arch-rivals, India found themselves in trouble, chasing 147 on a tacky wicket. Dube walked into bat with the score reading 77/4 in the 13th over and the contest hanging in the balance.

Unfazed by the situation, the 32-year-old remained calm and exploded at the end, finishing with a crucial 22-ball 33 to help India pull off a thrilling five-wicket victory in the last over.

Before his batting heroics, Dube also bowled an invaluable spell of 0/23 in three overs in the first innings, with veteran all-rounder Hardik Pandya injured.

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#2 IND vs ENG, 2025

Shivam Dube may have endured a mixed bag with the bat in T20Is last year, but the start of the season was anything but. The tall left-hander produced a series-winning knock against England with the side in trouble in January 2025.

With the five-match series hanging by a thread at 2-1 to India, the hosts suffered an early collapse in the fourth T20I in Pune to be reduced to 57/4 in the eighth over.

However, Dube changed the course of the game with a sensational 53 off 34 deliveries at No.6, including seven boundaries and two maximums. The southpaw curbed his natural six-hitting instincts for most of the innings, helping India post a respectable 181/9 in 20 overs.

Dube’s knock proved to be the difference between the sides as India completed a 15-run win and took an unassailable 3-1 series lead.

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#3 IND vs USA, T20 World Cup 2024

Several questions were raised over Shivam Dube’s inclusion in the Indian squad at the start of their victorious T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. Yet, the big-hitting batter answered his skeptics early in the tournament with a crucial knock against the USA in the group stage in New York.

On a bowler-friendly pitch, the Men in Blue restricted the co-hosts to a below-par 110/8 in 20 overs. Yet, in response, the Indian batters found the going difficult, slipping to 39/3 in the eighth over.

With an improbable defeat facing them, India were saved by Shivam Dube, who produced an uncharacteristic knock at No.5. The veteran batter scored an unbeaten 31 off 35 balls with only a boundary and a maximum, propelling India to a seven-wicket victory.