All aspiring baseball players will have dreams of standing on the green turf of a Major League Baseball field. For many of them, the Minor League is their ticket to stardom, though many will never make it. The numbers show that somewhere in the region of 10 percent of all Minor League players will ever make it to play at least one game in the Major League. The difference in talent and athleticism between the tiers really is night and day.
Today we’re going to take a look at some of the players that have started their baseball careers by representing the Portland Sea Dogs in the Minors before taking the step up to make waves in the Major League. Whether that step is to the Sea Dogs affiliate team, the Boston Red Sox, or whether they were traded to another franchise before being given their chance on the big stage. Taking a look at the Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame will give you plenty of big names and there seems no better place to start than pitcher Josh Beckett.
Josh Beckett
Source: MLB
Though his debut professional season was plagued with injuries, Josh Beckett got his start at the Kane County Cougars, where he would be picked by Baseball America as the Marlins’ best prospect. In the 2001 season, he was assigned to the Brevard County Manatees where he wouldn’t allow a single run in his first 38 ⅔ innings. He impressed so much, Marlins GM Dave Dombrowski promoted him to the Portland Sea Dogs. He struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced in his Sea Dogs Debut and in 13 starts for the team he had a record of 8-1, 1.82 ERA, and struck out a total of 102 batters earning him Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, TSN, and USA Today as well as being named the third best prospect in the entire Minor League.
Josh made his debut in the MLB for the Marlins against the Chicago Cubs where he only gave up a single hit across six shutout innings, claiming his first big stage W. In the 2003 season, Josh was named as the Marlins’ opening day starting pitcher and was the youngest opening day starter in the team’s history at 22. The Marlins won the World Series that year with Beckett winning the 2003 World Series MVP Award as they beat the New York Yankees in six. He also won the 2007 World Series with the Boston Red Sox, before rounding out his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a three-time American League All-Star. His final appearance in the MLB was in August 2014.
Jacoby Ellsbury
Source: OTM
Next I want to talk about outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury played 67 games with Portland over the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He hit .347 (94 for 271) with 20 doubles, 5 triples, 3 home runs, and 32 RBI with 24 stolen bases. Jacoby was a key part of the 2006 Eastern League Championship team for the Sea Dogs before moving on to the Boston Red Sox. In 2008 he would lead the American League with 50 stolen bases and led the entire MLB in steals during the 2009 and 2013 seasons.
He ended up being named an American League All-Star, Silver Slugger, and a Gold Glove Award winner, before moving to the Yankees in 2014. Ellsbury was a two-time World Series winner with the Red Sox, in 2007 against the Cleveland Indians, where he became the fourth rookie to hit three doubles in a World Series game, and in 2013 against the St. Louis Cardinals before he finished his career with the New York Yankees in September 2017.
The Future
Now we have taken some time to look at some of the biggest players to come out of the Portland Sea Dogs, it’s time to shift our focus to the future. As these players have represented multiple MLB teams, it’s worth examining these teams and their upcoming games. While the 2023 MLB season is well underway, the postseason won’t begin until October 3rd, 2023. Since the Portland Sea Dogs are affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, let’s start our analysis in Boston! In addition to discussing the teams, we’ll also explore the realm of sports betting. However, it’s important to note that sports betting is currently not legalized in Maine. Nevertheless, there are optimistic expectations that it will be legalized in Q1 of 2024. So, keep an eye out for the upcoming betting sites in Maine, as they will likely offer enticing welcome offers and promotions.
Boston Red Sox
For the Boston Red Sox, their next games are part of a three-game home stint against the Seattle Mariners. They lost the first game emphatically, 10-1, making their last two games a 0-2 with a combined record of 2-19. So as you can imagine the odds are heavily in favor of Seattle. For the game on Wednesday night, the Red Sox find themselves as +140 underdogs, returning $12 from a stake of $5. For the Mariners you’re looking at -160, returning $8.12 from the same stake. Now, much like Jacoby Ellsbury, it’s time to move on to New York.
New York Yankees
The Yankees are currently on a stint of four games in Canada as they play four in a row at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. They started the trip off with a 7-4 win, but given the Blue Jays are currently ahead of them in the American League East, this could be a tough one to call. So for the game on Wednesday night, the odds are as follows, given the home-field advantage, the Blue Jays are coming in as favorites. At -175 they will net you a return of $7.85 from a stake of $5. While the Yankees are +155 underdogs, this will return $12.75 from the same stake.
Who’s Next?
So, Sea Dogs Fans. What do we think? Did we enjoy this trip down memory lane? How proud are you that two absolute giants of the game came from your team? Since the Sea Dogs will probably never be a Major League team, it stands to reason that their claim to fame will be producing big-name talent. Josh Beckett in particular could end up in the MLB Hall of Fame after his performances, but for now, he’ll have to settle for being a Sea Dogs Hall of Famer. As for Jacoby Ellsbury, while he likely didn’t do enough to get him in the MLB Hall of Fame, he can still be proud of the fact he was a product of the Sea Dogs system and he went on to have a pretty successful career in the Major Leagues, representing two of the biggest MLB franchises to ever exist.
Both the Minor and Major league seasons have a long way to go, I imagine we’ll see plenty of ups and downs. But, do we think the current Sea Dogs roster has any potential future Hall of Fame-tier players in it? Are the Red Sox going to be sniffing around in the off-season, looking to make some call-ups? I mean, they really are struggling right now so it wouldn’t surprise me.
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