MLB history in the making! Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen can become the FIRST player to start a game for one team and finish with another Monday

Major League Baseball trades have the capacity to challenge the imaginations of even the most devoted fans.

For instance, outfielder Joel Youngblood played for two different teams in two different cities on August 4, 1982 thanks to a midday trade and a quick flight from Chicago to Philadelphia. Two decades earlier, journeyman catcher Harry Chiti was technically traded for himself.

And on Monday, Boston Red Sox backstop Danny Jansen could become the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game.

This historically confusing situation began to unfold on June 26, when Jansen was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Red Sox at Boston’s Fenway Park. The game was ultimately postponed to August 26 due to rain with Jansen at the plate.

But over the last two months, Jansen has been traded to Boston, giving him the opportunity to play on both sides of one game. 

Jansen is now a member of the Boston Red Sox after a deadline trade from Toronto 

‘Oh, man,’ Jansen told The Athletic. ‘It’s going to be nuts.’

Technically Jansen is still up in the 0-0 game, but will need to be pulled for a pinch hitter when things resume on Monday.

The only question is: Will Red Sox manager Alex Cora make history by inserting Jansen into the game?

There is a compelling reason for making history on Monday.  

Reese McGuire, who was catching for the Red Sox at the time the game was postponed on June 26, is back in the minors now after struggling with the bat. So there’s a chance Jansen could be behind the plate for Boston as Toronto pinch hits for him in the top of the second inning.

Joel Youngblood (left) famously played for the New York Mets and Montreal Expos on August 4, 1982, thanks to a midday trade and a quick flight from Chicago to Philadelphia. Journeyman catcher Harry Chiti (right) was traded from the Indians to the Mets in 1962 for a ‘player to be named later,’ only to be sent back to Cleveland to complete the deal. He was traded for himself

A view of Fenway Park during a rain delay between the  Blue Jays and Red Sox on June 26

This is all made possible by MLB’s suspended-game rule, which states: ‘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.’

‘I didn’t know [much about this] at first,’ Jansen told The Athletic. ‘I was like, ‘What — am I going to have to go on the other team?’

‘I didn’t know what was going to happen,’ he continued. ‘It just kind of caught me off guard about the whole situation. 

‘Because when I got traded, it was just a whirlwind at first, and I didn’t think about it. But then, once that stuff settled, I heard about [the suspended-game scenario]. And I was like, ”Oh, that’s cool. That’s a unique thing that’s going to happen.”’

Jansen’s season is on an upswing since being acquired by Boston for three minor leaguers.

After hitting just .212 for Toronto in 61 games this season, Jansen has bounced back in 11 games for Boston, hitting .286 with an impressive .375 on-base percentage.