Can a MLB player feature for 2 teams in one game? Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen set to make history
Ever heard of a player feature for both sides in a game in sports history, let alone MLB? Catcher Danny Jansen will make history on Monday when he becomes the first MLB player to feature on a box score for both teams participating in the same game.
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox resume their suspended June 26 game at Fenway Park. Jansen, who was a part of that game, was traded a day later by the Blue Jays to the Red Sox in exchange for minor-leaguers Cutter Coffey, Eddinson Paulino and Gilberto Batista.
His participation was confirmed by Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Friday. Apparently, the club is excited to help Jansen get into the history books for something highly unusual.
“He will play Game 1, by the way. For all the people that have been looking at history, yeah, let me throw it out there,” Cora told the Boston Herald.
“You know what? Yeah, he’s catching!” Cora added when reporters inquired about his playing status. “Let’s make history.”
On June 26, when the weather halted the game, Jansen was at-bat for the Blue Jays. So now, when Monday's game resumes at 2:05 p.m. ET with the score 0-0, the Blue Jays will pinch-hit for Jansen. Defensively, he will be substituted by Reese McGuire behind the plate.
According to Rule 7.02 (h) of the MLB rulebook:
"Any player may be replaced by a player who had not been in the game prior to the suspension. No player removed before the suspension may be returned to the lineup. A player who was not with the Club when the game was suspended may be used as a substitute, even if he has taken the place of a player no longer with the Club who would not have been eligible because he had been removed from the lineup before the game was suspended."
Danny Jansen finds the situation 'odd' and 'crazy'
On the Sportsnet podcast “Blair and Barker” earlier this week, Danny Jansen talked about going into the history books.
“What an oddity, right?” Jansen said. “What a crazy, crazy thing for baseball, this game. People have been asking me, and coming up to me to talk about it and stuff, so it’s going to be a cool one.”