“No one wants to watch this” - MLB fans react to Lionsgate developing scripted series around Shohei Ohtani’s gambling scandal

Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara's saga involving the latter's betting scandal will be turned into a TV show. On Thursday, Lionsgate Productions announced their intentions of developing a scripted series that will explore the gambling scandal.

Albert Chen and Scott Delman are working towards a deal to team up and produce the scripted drama for the studio, which has yet to be given a definitive title.

The series will explore the chronology of events that took place in this betting scandal, with Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, being the chief orchestrator of the mishaps.

Fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their take on the latest news of Lionsgate studio's intentions of turning these events into a full-fledged TV series. Some fans didn't pay too much heed to the news, as they felt that nobody would be interested in watching it.

"No one wants to watch this," commented one fan

"Nobody wants this," commented another fan

The scandal came to light less than two months ago when the LA Dodgers traveled to South Korea to take on the SD Padres in the Seoul Series for their 2024 campaign opener.

The Dodgers organization immediately fired Ippei Mizuhara, and both the MLB and federal agencies opened separate investigations into the betting scandal. Shohei Ohtani had no idea about the money that was illegally siphoned from his account to pay off illegal gambling debts accrued by Ippei.

Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud and illegal tax returns, with the total amount of money siphoned from Shotime's account reaching nearly $17 million.

Some fans voiced their dissatisfaction with turning the betting scandal saga into a TV show, with others claiming that it might have been the studio's intention all along.

"It was a work all along to make a TV show," one fan commented

"Solid PR move ngl," another fan commented

"Damn they wasted no time," yet another fan commented

Shohei Ohtani clarified his stance on the betting scandal about a month ago

Five days after the news broke out and Ippei Mizuhara was fired, Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani faced the media to clarify his stance on the events that took place, as he said:

"I am very saddened and shocked someone whom I trusted has done this. Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies.

"I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker."

Shohei Ohtani was direct and stern with his statements on the event, and he further added that his only allegiance was to concentrate and play good baseball with the LA Dodgers in years to come.