Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham doesn’t feel bad for slapping San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson over fantasy football.
Fantasy football.
Yes, by now you’ve heard it all. Mike Trout was the commissioner, and Pham opted to drag the best player in baseball down with him. Pham, who evidently had a lot of money on the line in said league, did not take kindly to Pederson making fun of him in a group text.
So, he slapped Pederson across the face like Will Smith to Chris Rock at the Oscars. Only, he chose to do so before a professional baseball game between the two teams, thus starting a pregame skirmish in the process. The timing was odd. The reasoning was odd.
Pham doesn’t care. He’d do it again.
Per Bob Nightengale in an interview with Pham, the Giants threatened to press charges, while MLB would’ve suspended him even longer had he not accepted his initial punishment.
This is why Pham didn’t appeal.
Tommy Pham vs Joc Pederson: The fantasy football feud that never ends
Pham went as far as to say Joc deserved to be slapped, which is debatable to say the least given the cause.
However, hopefully these two can put their fantasy sports issues behind them given, ya know, it’s not real sports…and they play baseball, not football.
The Giants recently trolled Pham with shirts that read “Fantasy football 101: Stashing players on the IR isn’t cheating.” That was all in good fun, and Pham responded saying he might release the full IR rules from the league itself. Finally, this is the light-hearted fun we expected all along.
As far as Pham goes, his teammates love the competitive edge he brings to the team, despite all the drama.
Fair enough. For now, the negative energy surrounding the event seems to have subsided. Let’s hope it stays that way.