LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani's calm, deliberate delivery Monday of his version of events surrounding the payment of his longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara's gambling debts leaves no doubt where he stands on the matter.

He does not and never has placed bets on any sport. He was oblivious to the alleged theft by Mizuhara of millions of dollars from his bank account. He is shocked and saddened. Lawyers can take it from here. Play ball!

And by the way, Ohtani unequivocally branded his former close friend, workout partner and right-hand man as a liar and a thief.

That was Ohtani's take, at least. The picture was not so sharply focused from the bleacher seats.

Since The Los Angeles Times broke the story that wire transfers totaling millions of dollars were sent last fall from Ohtani's bank account to alleged Orange County bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, questions are plentiful and answers elusive.

Ohtani took no questions from the 70-plus media members in attendance at Dodger Stadium, leaving many issues lingering as Major League Baseball and the Internal Revenue Service join the ongoing probe by federal authorities into any role Ohtani might have played in an illegal sports gambling operation.

Here are some of those questions, along with the answers available at this point.

Who greenlighted Mizuhara's initial ESPN interview in which he claimed Ohtani paid his gambling debts?

A public relations consultant who specializes in crisis management apparently made that call and joined Mizuhara during the 90-minute interview. ESPN reported that the consultant was hired hours after the outlet contacted Ohtani's agent, Nez Balelo, on March 18 to ask about information it uncovered, including that Ohtani's name appeared to be on two wire transfers totaling $1 million.

Even if Ohtani's team arranged the interview, however, that doesn't necessarily mean that Ohtani knew about it or that he'd known what Mizuhara would say.

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