Yu Darvish Being Investigated by MLB

Just in case you were bored and tired of there being no news on the Rangers as of late, a report out of Japan has swept in to save the day.

According to Jack Gallagher of The Japan Times, Yu Darvish is currently being investigated by Major League Baseball in regards to his younger brother being arrested in October of 2015 for running an illegal gambling ring.

It's unclear whether or not MLB actually has reason to believe that Yu had anything to do with it, but it does indeed prove troublesome that star athlete would have someone so close be involved in gambling.

Of course, Rob Manfred recently announced that he would not lift a lifetime ban on Pete Rose, who famously was banned from the game for betting on the sport, so there's a history of the league not looking too kindly on any sort of activity.

For now, it's likely that the league office is merely doing their due diligence on the matter to be sure that no foul play was involved with one of the game's premier pitchers. Perhaps most troubling, however, is a quote in the aforementioned article from Robert Whiting:

Gambling on baseball in Japan exists, it always has existed, and always will. As for (Yu) Darvish, you would have to say it was likely that he provided information, unwittingly I would have to assume (unless of course he is looking to supplement his income, which the last time I looked was about half of Masahiro Tanaka’s).

Given Major League Baseball's tough stance on gambling in the sport, one has to wonder if, should Yu Darvish be implicated even in some small way, it could affect the Rangers in 2016 or beyond.