For the first time in MLB history, the two Max Muncys—unrelated and sharing an Aug. 25 birthday—faced each other in the same game, both batting seventh and playing third base. Monday’s opener between the Athletics and Dodgers at Sutter Health Park made a lifel
WEST SACRAMENTO — Max Muncy walked to the plate batting seventh and took third base for the Athletics on Monday night. On the other side of the diamond, Max Muncy did the same thing for the Dodgers: seventh in the lineup, third base on the field.
It wasn’t a mix-up. It was a baseball rarity so specific that it feels like the sport itself leaned into a joke. For the first time in the big leagues, two players with the same name faced off against each other, playing the same position and hitting in the same spot in the lineup.
The moment carried history beyond this series opener. It was the third time since 1901 that two players with the same name faced each other while doing it in identical fashion—same position and same lineup spot. The earlier occasions came in the same series between the Blue Jays and the Marlins in June 2000. when Alex Gonzalez and Álex González both hit seventh and started at shortstop.
In this A’s–Dodgers matchup at Sutter Health Park, the symmetry was stranger still because the two Max Muncys are completely unrelated. They share the same Aug. 25 birthday, born exactly 12 years apart, yet their paths never crossed until baseball put them on the same stage.
The younger Muncy had been watching that stage for most of his life. He became aware of the elder Muncy—originally drafted by the A’s in 2012—through his grandparents around the time he was 8 years old. The updates weren’t occasional. Every time he visited their house. his grandparents kept him up to date as the older Max Muncy moved from college into the pros and through the transaction turns that followed.
“When he was in college at Baylor. my grandparents found him and they’re like. ‘Oh. there’s another baseball player. ’” Muncy said last week on A’s Cast. “I knew when he got drafted. I knew when he was with the A’s. I knew when they let him go and the Dodgers picked him up. All the transactions. I had known because every time I went over to my grandparents’ house they would keep me updated.”.
After making the A’s Opening Day roster in 2025. Muncy believed he might finally get the duel he’d been circling for years. He thought it would happen last season in May, when the A’s played a series at Dodger Stadium. Then, shortly before that three-game set, the A’s Muncy landed on the injured list, and the matchup slipped away.
Monday changed that.
It also wasn’t their first professional encounter. Their earlier meeting came in August 2024. Back then. with both players in the minors. the A’s Muncy was playing for Triple-A Las Vegas when he faced Triple-A Oklahoma City. whose roster included a rehabbing Muncy working his way back to the Dodgers.
That night belonged to the younger Muncy. He produced four hits, including a pair of doubles.
After the game, the two took a picture to commemorate the meeting. They later ran into each other at a nearby restaurant.
“He kind of did more of the talking,” the younger Muncy said. “I was like, ‘Nice to meet you. Glad we finally did this.’ He just kind of was like. ‘Hey man. you’ve had a great start to your career. You’re doing good stuff. I wish you the best.’ It was kind of just mutual. … We’re somehow attached in some way. It feels like there’s an attachment. This was before I debuted. He was like, ‘Man, I hope you make it up. Good luck.’”.
Now. with the series opener complete in the majors. the storyline has finally become something more than a family conversation and a calendar dream. The younger Muncy wasn’t just hoping to face his namesake—he was doing it under lights. with the same number in the lineup and the same place in the infield.
Max Muncy Athletics Dodgers Sutter Health Park MLB history same name matchup third base batting seventh