A bizarre combination of circumstances saw Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen become the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.
The June 26 game between the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays was rained out midway through the second inning with the score at 0-0 and will be played at a later date as part of a doubleheader.
About a month later, on July 27, Jansen was traded to the Red Sox for a prospect and was added to Boston’s active roster the next day.
On 26 August, Jansen will face his former club in a continuation of the match from 26 June, but due to a series of strange technical issues, he will become the first player to play for both teams in the same match.
In fact, if ball fans MLB Game Day If you check the page before the 2:05 p.m. start time, you’ll see that Jansen is scheduled to play catcher and hitter in the same at-bat. Jansen was at bat for the Blue Jays on June 26, when play was officially suspended.
On the scoresheet, Jansen will switch teams mid-at-bat, going from batter for the Blue Jays to catcher for the Red Sox.
“Let’s make history”
It all stems from COVID-era rules, in which the league decided to require the same players to play in make-up games if a game is stopped due to weather, in order to limit the risk of infection between different players.
“Baseball has been around for a long time and there’s a lot going on in the game, so it was surprising to find out I was the first,” Jansen said. ABC News“It’s very unique to be able to be part of the history of this great game.”
The decision was apparently made after manager Alex Cora began receiving text messages from journalists asking if Jansen would play.
“Hey, he’s got it!” Cora said. CNN“Let’s make history.”
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Jansen added.
The make-up game acts as an extension of the original game, setting in motion a series of strange events.
The roster requirements mean the Blue Jays will be missing several players during the game, including Justin Turner, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier and Jansen, who were traded shortly after the game began, and Bo Bichette, who is injured and likely won’t play the entire game.
If a player like Joey Loperfido magically appears on the roster during a game where the technical aspects of the game actually change Blue Jays rookie history, and Leo Jimenez plays in a reserve game, the 23-year-old’s MLB debut would be retroactively moved to June 26, 2024, even though he physically debuted on July 7, 2024.
Interestingly, Jansen will be replacing Red Sox catcher Reese McGwire, who was demoted to the minor leagues when Jansen was traded. This will likely become a trivia item in the future, but it means Jansen will go down in history as the player who changed teams in the middle of a game, took the plate as a catcher, replaced a player who hadn’t been demoted to the minor leagues yet (McGwire), and likely faced another player who wasn’t there on the original day of the game (Jimenez).
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