Base Brawl: Washington Nationals Players Launch Into Fist Fight In Their Own Dugout

by Warner Todd Huston | September 28, 2015 11:33 am

Things got quite tense in the Washington Nationals’ dugout as the team went down the tubes and were eliminated from the playoffs this weekend with teammates Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper engaging in a fist fight in the dugout. Papelbon even tried to strangle Harper!

According to the video, it seems that Papelbon took issue[1] with the fact that after Bryce hit a fly out to left field, he didn’t run all the way to first base. As it happens, Bryce didn’t bother running all the way to first and just stopped half way down and walked back to the dugout when he saw his hit was caught.

The two continued exchanging words as Harper entered the dugout until Papelbon, stepping down from the top step, lunged toward Harper and slammed him into the back of the dugout.

Harper was pulled from the melee by Ian Desmond and then sent to the showers.

Papelbon was sent back to the mound to pitch the top of the ninth.

“Certainly there’s a lot of testosterone flowing,” Matt Williams said after the game. “This is a family issue and we’ll deal with it that way. There was an altercation in the dugout and we’ll leave it at that.”

Temper, temper, boys.