In a story that sounds straight out of The League, two Major League Baseball players got into a pregame altercation on Friday night, and it’s reportedly over a disagreement from a fantasy football league.
Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham and (red-hot) San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson got into a pregame kerfuffle during batting practice that reportedly featured Pham slapping Pederson across the face.
This is all I could see. pic.twitter.com/wUPN4VSvjt
— Mark Sheldon (@m_sheldon) May 27, 2022
According to Andrew Baggarly (Giants beat) and C. Trent Rosecrans (Reds beat) of The Athletic, the drama between Pham and Pederson “stems from a disagreement the two had in a fantasy football league including players from several teams.”
Rosecrans referred to the slap as “Will Smith-style.”
According to multiple sources, the beef stems from a disagreement the two had in a fantasy football league including players from several teams.
Pham was scratched from the Reds’ lineup due to MLB investigating the incident. Pederson remained in the Giants’ lineup.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler told the media pregame, “We’re investigating it and learning as much as we can about the incident. We don’t have much more than that for you right now. I sense that we’ll have a clear understanding after the game.”
It’s been a bizarre few years for Pham, who was stabbed outside of a San Diego strip club in 2020. Pham and Pederson — who have never played on the same team — were division rivals that season, with Pham on the San Diego Padres and Pederson on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Update: Joc Pederson went into detail about the incident and the fantasy football league disagreement.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.