Denard Span on what the Nats’ group text was like after Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper’s fight

In the final days of Denard Span's time with the Washington Nationals, before he left in free agency following the 2015 season, the infamous Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper dugout incident occurred. If you recall, Papelbon took issue with Harper not hustling on the basepaths and assaulted him by grabbing his neck, all while cameras were watching.

Span wasn't in D.C. at the time, he was in Florida rehabbing after having surgery on his hip. So, just like the rest of us, he saw it play out on television.

Span recalled that night on the latest episode of the 'Nationals Talk' podcast and said he could still feel the awkwardness from his teammates hundreds of miles away.

"When you're hurt, you're kind of on your own island a bit. You're in your own feelings and kind of just off in your own little world and in your own little corner," Span said. "I can't really say I saw that coming. I wasn't there day-to-day with Pap and also with Harper as well. I didn't know if they had some sort of back history of them getting into it.

"But watching it from my house, I was like 'what is going on? The team is falling apart.' The funny thing about that situation is, that year we had a group text, like a team group text or whatever. After the game, I texted a joke and nobody responded to me. I think I said something like 'we need to stop this white-on-white crime' or something like that. And it was crickets. I was like 'okay, okay.'"

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At the time, all the players mostly said the same thing to the media, that it was normal clubhouse stuff, that 'brothers fight.' But clearly it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill teammate disagreement, not if they couldn't even joke about it with each other.

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