MLB fans let Shohei Ohtani conspiracies fly with sketchy press conference decision

Last Wednesday, a bombshell report emerged suggesting that Shohei Ohtani had lent substantial amounts of money to interpreter Ippei Mizuhara to help Mizuhara get out of some debt he had accrued by gambling. Soon after that emerged, a conflicting report came out that Mizuhara had stolen the funds from Ohtani's bank account.

Mizuhara was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Ohtani remains free to play. Despite this being a major story, the two-time MVP has stayed completely silent. He refused to speak to the media after Thursday's game, leaving fans to wonder what is going on.

Finally, with the Dodgers back in the United States, Ohtani said he was ready to break his silence and speak to the media sometime on Monday. Turns out, it won't be what we had expected.

Shohei Ohtani refusing to answer questions from the media causes MLB fans to come up with conspiracy theories

According to ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, Ohtani will not be taking questions from the media. instead, he will read a statement he prepared prior at 2:45 pm PT. This situation just keeps getting weirder.

Ohtani's representation claimed that Mizuhara stole the money from his account. If that is indeed what happened here, why can't Ohtani answer questions from the media? What can he possibly have to hide if he did nothing wrong?

Ohtani saying he'll answer questions from the media only to backtrack immediately and not take a single one is, to put it lightly, sketchy.

Ohtani is known for avoiding the media at all costs, but if he was never planning on speaking, what took him so long to put together what will almost certainly be a very brief statement that tells us almost nothing? Why did he bother with getting our hopes up to begin with?

It's not like Ohtani doesn't have a new interpreter. The Dodgers have Will Ireton, a man who has a history with the organization and was the interpreter for Kenta Maeda when he signed with the Dodgers.

The longer Ohtani ducks questions, the louder conspiracy theories from MLB fans will get. This isn't some average player. It's the best and most famous player in baseball history who just signed a $700 million contract to join the Dodgers.

Coming to conclusions right now when there's so much we don't know isn't fair for anybody, but continuing to dodge questions certainly raises suspicion levels.

We didn't expect much from this, but finding out that Ohtani will only be reading a statement that he likely didn't even put together is disappointing and sketchy. There's no other way around that.