Fantasy football led to an issue between two MLB players
Just when you think you have seen or heard anything and everything, something else happens to prove you wrong.
The San Francisco Giants were scheduled to play the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. Prior to the game, Reds outfielder Tommy Pham confronted Giants OF Joc Pederson about a fantasy football issue that happened more than a year ago.
… more than a year ago.
And, Pham slapped Pederson in the face, causing a ruckus that saw players from both teams get involved.
Pederson explained what happened.
“We were in a fantasy league together. I put somebody, a player on the injured reserve when they were listed as out and added another player. And then there was a text message in the group saying that I was cheating because I was stashing players on my bench.
“And then, I don’t know, I looked up the rules and sent a screenshot of the rules, how it says that when a player is ruled out, you’re allowed to put him on the IR. That’s all I was doing. And then It just so happened that he had a player — Jeff Wilson — who was out, and he had him on the IR.
“I said, you literally have the same thing on your bench. And then I guess he was in two leagues and in one of them (Wilson) was on the IR and in one of them, he wasn’t. So maybe that was the confusion. In the ESPN league we were in, he was listed as out. It feels very similar to what I did. That was basically all of it. There’s not much more to it.”
Pederson walked off the field after he was slapped. There were no punches thrown.
“There was a decent amount of people around and I didn’t get emotional – I don’t think violence is the answer, I guess you could say, so I left the situation,” Pederson told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Some other players were out there when the benches cleared, but it was batting practice. There was nothing more to it. It was an unfortunate situation over a fantasy football league rule or what wasn’t a rule.”
Pederson said he doesn’t think he will be in a fantasy league with Pham, again.
The Giants-Reds game had a lengthy rain delay and San Francisco asked that Pham not play in the contest due to the incident.
According to a statement by the Reds, “Mr. Pham agreed to not play this evening pending the results of MLB’s investigation.”
Pham declined to discuss the incident when he walked off the field after batting practice and he was not available following Friday’s game.
Earlier this season, Pham challenged the Padres’ Luke Voit to a fight after Voit collided with Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson, causing a concussion.
In 2020, Pham was stabbed outside a San Diego strip club. The 12-inch wound needed more than 200 stitches.
Pham wound up suing the club and reached a financial settlement.
“I beat them,’’ Pham told USA TODAY Sports. “They ended up choosing to settle with me for the max. They got crushed. All of the evidence was there, they had to ante up.
“It was good money, but not like baseball money,’’ Pham said. “Now, if the [stabbing] would have hit an organ, then it would have been baseball money. Then again, I may never have played baseball again.’’
