Jul 31, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Tommy Pham (29) reacts after hitting a single against the Texas Rangers during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
By Sam Neumann on

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball crew hasn’t shied away from asking the tough questions.

Of course, there’s a caveat there that the questions are from the fans, but still, Karl Ravech and Co. asking Pete Alonso if he’d rather go for a walk with Barstool Sports personality and New York Mets fan superfan Frank “The Tank” Fleming or everyone’s beloved purple McDonald’s character, Grimace.

The Mets first baseman promptly chose the latter, but you see where this is going, right?

On Sunday’s broadcast of the St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game, Tommy Pham was chosen as the mic’d-up player. Given his recent trade from the Chicago White Sox to his former team and his reputation for outspokenness, Pham seemed the perfect choice to provide candid commentary for Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and David Cone.

He was asked a seemingly innocuous couple of questions about fantasy football.

However, given the history between Pham and Joc Pederson, the query became just a tad more sinister. Ravech joked that he knew fans would bring up fantasy football with the Cardinals outfielder, and they didn’t disappoint. They wanted to know what punishment Pham thought was appropriate for the league’s last-place finisher and his draft strategy.

The penalty for Pederson was a “pimp slap” from Pham.

Not for losing the league, per se, but because Pham had previously accused Pederson of “disrespectful” behavior and making comments he found unacceptable within their fantasy football league’s group chat. He said as much during an appearance on Foul Territory in 2023 when he was with the Mets.

Needless to say, Pham takes fantasy football seriously.

And he was all smiles in the field at Wrigley Field during the home half of the third inning, saying “wonderful” when told he’d be answering questions about fantasy football. After taking time to deliberate, he suggested that the last-place finisher has to pay third-place their money back.

Or, you could perhaps be a pimp-slapped by Pham.

But his penchant for drafting wide receivers early and often might put him at risk of receiving some friendly fire in fantasy league circles. In fact, I sent the same tweet to my fantasy football group chat as we are still trying to figure out our own punishment for the upcoming season, and I was told that perhaps we shouldn’t listen to someone who drafts three consecutive receivers.

Draft a running back, Tommy!

[St. Louis Cardinals]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann