Reds Outfielder Tommy Pham Suspended 3 Games for Slapping Giants' Joc Pederson

Major League Baseball suspended Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham three games after he slapped San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson before Friday night's game over beef that had formed in a fantasy football league.

This story has been updated since Friday.

On the surface, San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham have relatively nothing in common other than the fact that they're both outfielders in the National League.

However, the two are more similar than meets the eye as they are both part of an offseason fantasy football league, where the stakes must be quite high.

The reason for that is that on Friday, the two reportedly got into an altercation before the Giants/Reds game in Cincinnati that night due to this very same fantasy league.

Our headline has been updated with more details: Sources confirm Tommy Pham slapped Joc Pederson across the face after confronting him about a disagreement stemming from their fantasy football league. https://t.co/xMUMAuc2n9

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) May 28, 2022

The incident itself occurred around 4 pm or so before what was supposed to be a 6:40 pm start time on Friday. 

Rain pushed back the starting time to 8:48 pm and roughly two hours before the revised start time, Pham agreed to be removed from the starting lineup pending an investigation from MLB.

According to Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans, Pham slapped Pederson "Will Smith-style" as a result of a disagreement that stemmed from a group text in the aforementioned fantasy football league.

Of the wild things that have happened in the world of sports and pop culture recently, including Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at The Oscars, this has to be up there with one of the most peculiar.

Since the incident and subsequent MLB investigation, the league has suspended Pham three games for his actions. Also, a video of the slap has since come out in the hours following the suspension.

Tommy Pham slapped Joc Pederson across the head and was suspended for three games because lingering resentment from a rule regarding IR designation in their fantasy football league spilled over into real life and led to Pham’s attack.

Baseball is not real. It’s a Mad Lib. pic.twitter.com/0a41Yi0DGD

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 28, 2022

Adding on to the reasoning behind Pham's action was that Pederson disrespected several members that played on the Padres while Pham was there and Pederson played on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As was stated above from Jeff Passan, Pederson explained his side of things as a simple move of a player who was listed as out for a certain week moved to injury reserve as that was a rule allowed in the said fantasy league both participated in.

The end result is that Pham has now been suspended and as for the future of that fantasy football league, things are not looking good.