According to Deadline, in a bold move that underscores its commitment to provocative storytelling, Lionsgate Television has announced plans to develop a scripted series centered around the shocking gambling scandal involving Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani. This ambitious project will delve into the rise of Ohtani as a baseball superstar and the subsequent turmoil sparked by allegations of financial misdeeds that rocked the sports world.

The series, spearheaded by producers Scott Delman (Station Eleven The Glass Hotel, Merrily We Roll Along) and Albert Chen (Billion Dollar Fantasy, Party Crashers, Trade Deadline Winners and Losers), aims to capture the gripping narrative of Ohtani’s ascent to prominence and the dramatic fallout from the scandal that engulfed him. Delman, acclaimed for his work on the TV adaptation of Station 11 and a string of Broadway hits, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership with Lionsgate, citing the studio’s reputation for boundary-pushing content.

According to Deadline, the catalyst for this project stems from recent developments out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which revealed that Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, has agreed to plead guilty to embezzling a staggering $17 million from the star athlete. Mizuhara’s actions overshadow Ohtani’s record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers, marking it as the largest deal in American sports team history.

“This is major league baseball’s biggest sports gambling scandal since Pete Rose and at its center is its biggest star, one that MLB has hitched its wagon on,” remarked Chen Via Deadline, the producer is also a veteran sports journalist and co-creator of the podcast All American with a rich background covering baseball for Sports Illustrated and MLB Network.

According to Deadline, the scripted series will chronicle Ohtani’s journey from a promising talent in Japan to his meteoric rise in Major League Baseball, culminating in his historic contract with the Dodger, so stay tuned for updates on this groundbreaking project from Lionsgate Television.