Fantasy football flap leads to Pham slapping Pederson

With three victories in a row, the Cincinnati Reds are close to climbing out of the Major League Baseball cellar — an accomplishment of sorts after a 3-22 start. They improved to 15-30 on Friday with a 5-1 victory against the San Francisco Giants, leaving them percentage points behind the Kansas City Royals (15-29) and Washington Nationals (16-30) for the worst record in baseball.

In other news, the Reds were involved in perhaps the strangest story of the 2022 season Friday. Reds outfielder Tommy Pham slapped Giants outfielder Joc Pederson in the outfield at Great American Ball Park before the game. The incident happened because of a fantasy football dispute as Pederson explained to reporters after the game.

“We were in a fantasy league together,” Pederson said. “I put a player on the injured reserve when they were listed as out and added another player. Then there was a text message in the group saying I was cheating because I was stashing players on the bench. I looked up the rule and sent a screen shot of the rules that say when a player is out, you’re allowed to put them on the IR. That’s what I was doing. It just so happened he had a player, (running back) Jeff Wilson, who was out, and he had him on the IR. I said you have the same thing on your bench. He was in two leagues. In one of them, he was on the IR, and one of them, he wasn’t. Maybe that was the confusion. In the ESPN league we were in, he was listed as out, so it feels very similar to what I did. There’s not much more to it.”

Pederson was surprised to be confronted by Pham before the game. They had not talked since the incident.

“He kind of came up and said, ‘You remember from last year?’” Pederson said.

“Fantasy football?” Pederson asked.

Then Pham slapped him. Pederson decided not to respond, though other players were around, and players from both teams ran to the area, according to video shared by MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon.

“I don’t think violence is the answer,” Pederson said. “I left the situation. It was an unfortunate situation over a fantasy football rule.”

The Giants asked the Reds to remove Pham from the lineup before the game, according to reports, and the Reds complied.

Pham received a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine from Major League Baseball. The suspension is retroactive to Friday night’s contest, and the remaining two games will be served Saturday and today as the Reds continue their series against the Giants at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.