Danny Jansen becomes first MLB player to play for both teams in same game

In an MLB season where Aaron Judge is chasing his own AL home run record, Shohei Ohtani went 40-40, and the playoff race is scorching hot, Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen made a little bit of history.

In Boston’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Jansen became the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.

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Normally, it’s not something that would actually be possible. However, Danny Jansen managed to get traded from the time the game began to the time it finished. That’s because the game started in June but was suspended due to bad weather. Being division rivals, it was decided to resume play later in the season when Toronto returned to Boston.

Jansen, who had been at-bat during that game, was then traded to Boston at the deadline. That made him available to play in the game for the Red Sox when play resumed on August 26th. Given that it’s a double-header, the Red Sox made sure to use him in the first game of the day, which was the continuation of the game from June.

There are plenty of oddities in this game. After all, having it played two months apart, the rosters are different with various injuries, trades, and other transactions that have helped to shape them. For instance, Justin Turner was also traded from Toronto, meaning the Blue Jays also needed a new DH.

In total the Red Sox have three changes to their lineup and the Blue Jays have five changes since the start of the game.

The Red Sox, who started Kutter Crawford back in June, ended up pitching Nick Pivetta, a different starter, instead. Pivetta took over the game with an inning and a third already in the books. So, he technically didn’t start the game or start by seeing the top of Toronto’s lineup. On the other side, that forced Toronto to get creative, using three different pitchers for the first four innings.

This game is also vital to the Boston Red Sox. Boston is trying to keep up in the Wild Card race but after getting swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They’re currently 9.0 games back in the AL East and 4.5 out of the Wild Card.

Danny Jansen is 29 years old and first made it to the majors in 2018. He has a career batting average of .222 with a .308 OBP. He also has 73 career home runs and 219 career RBIs. Given those numbers, he’s not the first person that you’d think of as a player who’d make history, but he did all the same.