Reds' Pham suspended for 3 games for slapping Giants' Pederson over fantasy football dispute

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Tommy Pham was suspended by Major League Baseball for three games on Saturday after he slapped San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson because of a dispute about their fantasy football league.

While the Giants warmed up in the outfield before Friday's series opener, Pham confronted Pederson and smacked him in the face before the pair was separated.

Pham said Saturday there was some "sketchy" stuff going on with the fantasy league, and Pederson also made "disrespectful" comments about his former team, the San Diego Padres.

"We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there's a code," Pham said.

Pham also said Pederson was "messing with my money."

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. <br><br>Baseball is not real. It’s a Mad Lib. <a href="https://t.co/0a41Yi0DGD">pic.twitter.com/0a41Yi0DGD</a>

Pederson said after Friday night's game that he was accused of cheating for placing a player on injured reserve and replacing him with a free agent in a fantasy football league. Pederson said the player he put on IR had been ruled out for that week, which made it a legal move. He said Pham had executed essentially the same maneuver with his own team.

"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," Pederson. "He literally did the same thing. That was basically all of it."

"There was no argument, he kind of came up and said, `You remember from last year?' and I said, `Fantasy football?"' Pederson recalled.