Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham brawl before MLB game over Fantasy Football disagreement
Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham have set a very poor example for the rest of the fantasy football-playing world by letting a disagreement over their shared league from last year turn into a bench-clearing altercation ahead of Friday's series opener between the Reds and Giants in Cincinnati.
According to Pederson, Pham attacked the Giants outfielder while he was warming up before the game. In describing the incident, Pederson described how seemingly random it was:
"It was a surprise. There was no real argument. He kind of came up and said, like, 'I don't know if you remember from last year' and I was like, 'Fantasy football?' He was like, 'Yeah.'"
Imagine still being mad about fantasy football on Memorial Day lol
In Pederson's mind, nothing egregious was even done, considering Pham had done the exact same thing:
"I sent a screenshot of the rules, how it says that if a player's ruled out, you're allowed to put him on the IR, and that's all I was doing. He literally did the same thing. That was basically all of it."
In summation, a bench-clearing brawl occurred before a baseball game because of mere confusion since Pham may have been in multiple leagues and got them mixed up:
"Maybe that was a 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 said there shouldn't be any follow-up to this embarrassing incident:
"Violence isn't the answer. It's over as far as I'm concerned. I won't talk to him. I don't think he wants to talk to me, I don't know. It was a weird interaction."
Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham both look bad from this, but Pham is to blame
Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham will now be remembered by non-MLB fans as the guys that fought on the field over a fantasy football disagreement. What a legacy to leave.
Truthfully, this incident was Pham's fault. Pham has a history of showing a violent attitude toward his peers, having threatened Padres first baseman Luke Voit back in April after Voit injured Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson by sliding hard into home plate:
"If Luke wants to settle it, I get down really well. Anything. Muay Thai, whatever. Like I said, I've got an owner here who will let me use his facility."
This is the slide that led to Tommy Pham’s offer to fight Luke Voit at a local gym. Quite the collision at home.
https://t.co/31pzSailnE
There's no word yet on if there will be any disciplinary action for Joc Pederson and Tommy Phamfollowing this incident.