Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen is positioned to make MLB history on Aug. 26, when his team finishes a suspended game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
That date is when the Red Sox and Blue Jays are scheduled to finish playing a June 26 game that was suspended in the second inning due to weather. The trick is that, at that point, Jansen was a member of the Blue Jays. In fact, he was even at the plate for Toronto at the time of the suspension.
About a month later, Jansen was traded from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox. If Jansen were to enter the suspended game for Boston, it would make him the first player in known MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.
Perhaps the best part? There is a plausible pathway to this happening. Reese McGuire, who was catching for Boston in that game, was designated for assignment after the Red Sox acquired Jansen. Toronto will obviously have to pinch-hit for Jansen, but the Red Sox might have no choice but to insert Jansen as their catcher to finish off the game.
Jansen is aware of the possibility, though he does not quite know the specifics.
“I don’t even know how this works. I’ve heard about it a couple times,” Jansen said recently, via David Adler of MLB.com. “That’ll be funky, right?”
It would be very funky, and there appears to be a real chance of it happening. Anyone who appreciates a good statistical oddity might want to mark their calendar for this one.
