The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

, playing in the Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A affiliate of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. The Sea Dogs became part of the Red Sox system for the 2003 season; previously they were affiliated with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

. The change in affiliation brought success in the 2005 and 2006 seasons as the Sea Dogs went to the Eastern League championship series both years. They won their first-ever title on September 17, 2006, defeating the

Akron Aeros The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...

, 8–5, in a rematch of the series from the previous year. It was the first Double-A championship for a Red Sox

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

since 1983 when they were based in

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135. Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...

. Currently, all games are carried on a network of radio stations with

Emma Tiedemann Emma Tiedemann is a play-by-play sports announcer, one of the original four female broadcasters in Minor League Baseball. She has announced for basketball, football, soccer, softball and volleyball games. She works for the Portland Sea Dogs as D ...

providing the play-by-play, with the flagship

WPEI WPEI (95.9 FM) is a WEEI Sports Radio Network station serving the Portland, Maine area. The station is owned by Atlantic Coast Radio. History On July 18, 1982, WPEI signed on as WPIG with a country format and the slogan "Southern Maine's Coun ...

and select TV games on

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports network, regional sports cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which ow ...

with

Eric Frede Eric Frede is an American sportscaster who has worked for NESN since 2002. He was previously the play-by-play announcer for NESN College Football Saturday broadcasts until he left NESN and joined NBC Sports Boston and is currently an anchor for ...

play-by-play and former Red Sox relief pitcher

Ken Ryan Kenneth Frederick Ryan, Jr. (born October 24, 1968), is an American former baseball pitcher. He played eight seasons in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. Professional career After graduating in 1986 from S ...

History

Minor league baseball officially returned to Maine on October 4, 1992, when Portland was awarded one of two Eastern League expansion franchises (the other being the

New Haven Ravens New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

) to begin play in April 1994. The Sea Dogs signed an affiliation agreement with the

on May 3, 1993, beginning what would become a nine-season relationship. The city renovated

Hadlock Field Hadlock Field is a minor league baseball stadium in Portland, Maine. It is primarily home to the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League but also the Portland High School Bulldogs and Deering High School Rams baseball teams. The stadium is name ...

, transforming what was once a high-school stadium into a professional ballpark. City manager Robert Ganley led efforts to renovate Hadlock Field and return professional baseball to Portland. The team won its first game, defeating the

Reading Phillies Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on the road 2–1, with the help of a 14th-inning home run by future major league catcher Charles Johnson. The team opened Hadlock Field on April 18, 1994, losing 7–6 to the

Albany-Colonie Yankees The Albany-Colonie Yankees were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Double-A Eastern League from 1983 to 1994. They were located in Colonie, New York, and played their home games at Heritage Park. The team was known as the Albany A ...

. Cartoonist

Guy Gilchrist Guy Gilchrist (born January 30, 1957''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 in Connecticut) is an American writer, artist, and musician, known for his children's books and comics. With his brother Brad, he produced a newspaper co ...

designed the team's logo as well as logos for the

Connecticut Defenders The Connecticut Defenders were a Minor League Baseball team based in Norwich, Connecticut. The team, which played in the Eastern League, was the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major-league club from 2003 until following the 2009 ...

Binghamton Mets The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mira ...

, and

New Britain Rock Cats The New Britain Rock Cats were a minor league baseball team that competed in the Eastern League. They were the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for 12 years, the Minnesota Twins for 20 years and the Colorado Rockies for one. They playe ...

. Gilchrist's comic strip '' Mudpie'' had a series of strips in which the young cat's family visit the Portland area and attend a Sea Dogs game. In conjunction with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Sea Dogs were organized into the

Double-A Northeast AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Dou ...

. In 2022, the Double-A Northeast became known as the Eastern League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Stadium

The Sea Dogs' home stadium is

, named after long-time Portland High School baseball coach Edson Hadlock. It currently has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 7,368. Hadlock Field is often visited by vacationing celebrities, such as former NFL coach

Bill Parcells Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells (born August 22, 1941) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons. He rose to prominence as the head coach of the New York Giants from 1983 ...

, former U.S. President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, and his wife Barbara. In

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

stands the

Maine Monster The Maine Monster is the nickname of the left-field wall at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, which is the home of the Portland Sea Dogs, a double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. It is similar to the Green Monster at the Red Sox' home, Fenway ...

, a -tall replica of

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

Green Monster The Green Monster is a popular nickname for the left field wall at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. The wall is from home plate and is a popular target for right-handed hitters. Overview The wall was part ...

, complete with Coke bottle and

Citgo Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo, stylized as CITGO) is a United States–based refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. Headquartered in the Energy Corridor area o ...

sign. Along the right-field foul line just beyond first base, a picnic pavilion is available for group outings from 20 up to 300 people. In 2006, a new pavilion opened above the right-field wall over the Sea Dogs bullpen. Modeled after the Green Monster seats at Fenway Park in Boston, it seats up to 393 people and gives fans an opportunity to catch a home run ball. Slugger the Sea Dog has been the Sea Dogs' mascot since his debut on May 6, 1994.

Season records

The team was a member of the Northeast division of the Eastern League from 1994 to 2020 and the Northeast division of

in 2021. They have been members of the Eastern League's Northeast division since 2022. In the below table, "Place" represents finish within the team's division for the overall regular reason. Note that in 2019 and 2022, the Eastern League played a split-season schedule, with first-half and second-half winners advancing to the postseason.

Roster

Notes

References

External links

*
Statistics from Baseball-Reference

2021 Media Guide
{{Authority control Baseball teams established in 1994 Baseball in Portland, Maine Eastern League (1938–present) teams Professional baseball teams in Maine Boston Red Sox minor league affiliates Miami Marlins minor league affiliates 1994 establishments in Maine Double-A Northeast teams