Jayson Stark, writing last week for The Athletic (News+):

Everyone knows you can’t be in two places at the same time. Those are the rules — the immutable rules of physics.

Ah, but who knew you can play for two teams in the same baseball game? Those are also the rules — the wacky suspended-game rules of baseball.

So next Monday, if all the forces in the universe line up right, Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen will go where no baseball-playing human has ever gone before.…

In a week, he could become the first player in major-league history to appear in a box score for both teams in the same game. 

The Athletic Staff, a week later (News+):

Danny Jansen had been at the plate for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 26 in a game against the Boston Red Sox with one on and one out in an 0-1 count, when the skies opened up and the game was suspended for severe weather.

Fast forward two months and the game resumed Monday, but with Jansen now playing for the Red Sox. The Red Sox traded for Jansen on July 27, setting up the possibility of one player appearing in the same game for both teams.

The possibility became reality on Monday.

With Jansen substituted into the game to catch for the Red Sox, he settled in behind the plate, for an at-bat in which he’d started as the batter.

Baseball is beautiful and sometimes,

“This game,” said Danny Jansen, “is nuts.”

It’s these beautiful oddities that make this game so delightful for fans—like me!—who love the history and stories of the game as much as the stats and outcomes.  Both pieces are worth reading to understand the full extent of the nuttiness.

Thanks to the MLB app, I was able to watch the opening minutes of the game, so I could say I witnessed baseball history. 

I expect the box score will one day make it to Cooperstown.

(Via Steve Hayman, who astutely notes “This must really test the referential integrity of sports databases. The same guy, playing for both teams in the same game? Surely THAT will never happen.”)