Minor League Baseball

Boston Red Sox's Double-A Affiliate Asks Google to Rename Casco Bay After Mascot

The Portland Sea Dogs saw president Donald Trump's effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and decided to joke about renaming Casco Bay to Slugger Bay.
Sam Connon|
Mar 15, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox hat and glove lay in the dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Mar 15, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox hat and glove lay in the dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field. | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

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Boston Red Sox

Whether it's the dead of winter or the middle of summer, minor league teams always seem to be enjoying themselves on social media.

Google Maps made headlines Tuesday when it renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for its United States users, in accordance with the wishes ofPresident Donald Trump. Apple Maps followed suit later in the day.

With that precedent set, the Portland Sea Dogs submitted a proposal of their own.

The Boston Red Sox's Double-A affiliate has played at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, for over three decades, carving out a home roughly a mile away from the ocean. The city overlooks Casco Bay, which has been the name of the body of water for 500 years or so.

The Sea Dogs took to social media on Tuesday, though, and asked Google to change the name to Slugger Bay, in honor of their mascot. They even posted a mock up screenshot of Google Maps with Slugger Bay transposed onto the water.

Slugger the Sea Dog, a grey harbor seal, has been Portland's mascot since May 7, 1994. He was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2023.

According to the team's official lore, the costumed mascot is from Casco Bay.

Portland's regular season slate begins on April 4, while their home opener is scheduled for April 8. That gives Google almost two months to appease the Sea Dogs in time for the season, but the tech giant probably has bigger fish to fry.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and other "On SI'' baseball sites. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for “UCLA on SI’’ and won awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for “New England Patriots on SI’’ and was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamConnon.

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