On Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced the findings of its gambling investigation into San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, in which the former Pirate placed 231 bets on MLB games and wagered more than $87,000. Included in those bets were 25 bets involving the Pirates, although all of those bets came while he was rehabbing a knee injury.
As expected, MLB announced a lifetime ban for Marcano, along with one-year suspensions for four other players who violated the league’s gambling policy for lesser violations. What makes Marcano’s ban even more incredible is that he was a terrible baseball bettor. According to MLB’s investigation, Marcano lost all 25 bets he placed involving the Pirates (the team he played for), and overall he won just 4.3 percent of his 231 bets on Major League Baseball.
Here is MLB’s account of the baseball betting by Tucupita Marcano that caused him to be banned from baseball “permanently.”
231 bets on baseball
Baseball bets totaling $87,319
25 bets on the Pirates while he was a Pirates player pic.twitter.com/WTEAslhqel— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) June 4, 2024
Marcano was never great at hitting for average, boasting a career .217 mark over his three seasons in Pittsburgh, and unfortunately that translated to the sporstbooks as well. Parlay hit rate is always low (and the sportsbooks clean up on them because of it), but 4.3 percent is a truly astounding figure across a pretty large sample size. Losing every bet you placed on the team you play for and ostensibly know better than most is also extremely funny. Even Ippei Mizuhara thinks Marcano should’ve just called it quits from gambling long before baseball ever got involved.
Major League Baseball will hope the message is sent by this lifetime ban, but the allure of the same game parlay is likely too strong and someone else will eventually think they’re smart enough to get away with it.