The Dodgers and Brewers just can’t get enough of each other.
Moments after the first pitch of Wednesday’s series finale between the two teams in Milwaukee, the Dodgers announced that they were trading minor league outfielder Steward Berroa to the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations.
Some fans on social media marveled at the fact that Berroa, 26, could simply walk to the opposing dugout at Milwaukee’s American Family Field to get situated with his new team, but the 26-year-old missed out on that unique experience because he was in Triple-A.
The Brewers went on to earn a walk-off 3-2 win over the Dodgers in 10 innings, sealing an impressive sweep over the National League’s best team.
Berroa, a 5-foot-9 switch-hitter from the Dominican Republic, is no stranger to getting traded for cash considerations.
The Blue Jays dealt him to the Dodgers on May 12, and he went on to spend all of his time with the organization with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he hit .330 with 11 RBIs in 97 at-bats.
The Brewers immediately assigned him to Triple-A Nashville and placed him on the IL with right shoulder bursitis, according to MLB.com.
The mid-game trade between opponents is quite rare, but there have been several instances of teams making swaps in the middle of a series against one another.
In 2018, the Diamondbacks and Rangers swapped pitchers Jake Diekman and Wei-Chieh Huang on the day of the trade deadline while in Phoenix for a series against one another. Diekman used the D-Backs’ bullpen cart to ride from one clubhouse to the other.
The Astros traded pitcher Scott Feldman to the Blue Jays for prospect Lupe Chavez on deadline day in 2016, with the teams facing each other in another example.
Perhaps the weirdest of all was the aftermath of the 2024 trade that sent catcher Danny Jansen from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox.
Jansen was traded on July 27, but Boston and Toronto had yet to make up a game from June 26 that had been suspended for rain — while Jansen was at bat for Toronto.
When the teams played the remainder of the game a month later, Jansen was a member of the Red Sox, and he thus became the first player in MLB history to play for two teams in the same game.