Chicago Dogs
American independent professional baseball team
The Chicago Dogs are an independent professional baseball team based in the Chicago metropolitan area. They are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. They began play in 2018 and play home games at the 6,300-seat Impact Field. The team's branding alludes to the Chicago-style hot dog, a local street food.
01History
2018
In 2018, their first year as a team, the Dogs' manager was Butch Hobson. Former Chicago White Sox minor league pitcher Josh Goossen-Brown was the first player signed by the Chicago Dogs. They finished the season in fourth place out of six teams in the American Association North Division with a record of 45-54.
2019
In 2019, Carlos Zambrano joined the Dogs' roster. Zambrano had pitched in the major leagues for 12 years, most of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs. Butch Hobson continued to serve as the team's manager. Keon Barnum hit 31 home runs, breaking a record held by C.J. Ziegler of Wichita in 2013. The Dogs finished the season in third place in the North Division with a record of 59-41.
2020
In 2020, the Dogs competed as one of six league teams in a condensed 60-game season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were originally slated to play home games at Franklin Field (home of the Milwaukee Milkmen) due to capacity restrictions for outdoor events in Illinois. However, these restrictions were lifted on June 26 (as the state officially moved into Phase 4 of their reopening plan, allowing for outdoor spectator sports to resume at limited capacity) and thus enabled the Dogs to play all their home games at Impact Field.
2021
The Dogs won the North Division with a 63-37 record, clinching their first regular-season division title and playoff berth. They were eliminated by the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in the North Division Championship Series.
2022-2023
In 2022, the Dogs finished 54-46 and tied for first in the East Division. The following year, they finished 56-44 and shared the division lead, then advanced to the Miles Wolff Cup Finals, where they lost to the Kansas City Monarchs.
2025
Under manager Matt Passerelle, the Dogs finished 50-49 and placed second in the East Division. They swept the Lake Country DockHounds in the Division Series to reach the East Division Championship Series, where the Kane County Cougars won the deciding fifth game, 10-3.
02Mascot
The mascot of the Chicago Dogs is Squeeze, a fuzzy yellow creature who resembles a squeeze bottle of mustard.
03Season-by-season records
| Season | League | Division | Record | Div. Finish | Ovr. Finish | Win% | Playoffs | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | AA | North | 45-54 | 4th | 8th | .455 | Did not qualify | Butch Hobson |
| 2019 | AA | North | 59-41 | 3rd | 3rd | .590 | Did not qualify | Butch Hobson |
| 2020 | AA | N/A | 26-32 | 6th | 6th | .448 | Did not qualify | Butch Hobson |
| 2021 | AA | North | 63-37 | 1st | 2nd | .630 | Lost Division Championship; Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 3-2 | Butch Hobson |
| 2022 | AA | East | 54-46 | 1st | 3rd | .540 | Lost Division Series; Milwaukee Milkmen 2-1 | Butch Hobson |
| 2023 | AA | East | 56-44 | 1st | 2nd | .560 | Won Division Series; Cleburne Railroaders 2-1 Won Division Championship; Milwaukee Milkmen 2-1 Lost Wolff Cup Finals; Kansas City Monarchs 3-1 | Butch Hobson |
| 2024 | AA | East | 55-45 | 3rd | 5th | .545 | Won Division Series; Cleburne Railroaders 2-1 Lost Division Championship; Kane County Cougars 2-0 | Jeff Isom |
| 2025 | AA | East | 50-49 | 2nd | 6th | .505 | Won Division Series; Lake Country DockHounds 2-0 Lost Division Championship; Kane County Cougars 3-2 | Matt Passerelle |
- NOTE: Division realignment in 2022
04Roster
| Active (25-man) roster | Coaching staff |
|---|---|
|
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
|
Manager
Coaches
|
05Notable alumni
- Scott Barnes (2018)
- Joe Benson (2018)
- Chad Girodo (2018)
- Kenny Wilson (2018)
- Casey Crosby (2019-2020)
- Victor Roache (2019-2020)
- D. J. Snelten (2019, 2023)
- Luke Wilkins (2019)
- Carlos Zambrano (2019)
- Eddie Butler (2020)
- Jamie Callahan (2020)
- Jake Cousins (2020)
- Michael Crouse (2020-2022)
- Tyler Ladendorf (2020)
- Eric Stout (2020)
- Joey Terdoslavich (2020)
- T. J. Bennett (2021)
- Cam Booser (2021)
- Michael Bowden (2021)
- Jonathon Crawford (2021)
- Tyler Ferguson (2021)
- Christian Friedrich (2021)
- Connor Grey (2021)
- Anfernee Grier (2021-2022)
- Mickey Jannis (2022)
- Trevor Lane (2022-2023)
- James Reeves (2022-2023)
- Brian Schlitter (2022-2024)
- Charlie Tilson (2022)
- Stevie Wilkerson (2022)
- Braxton Davidson (2023)
- Payton Eeles (2023)
- Nick Heath (2023)
- Jake Newberry (2023)
- Joe Wieland (2023)
- Jason Bilous (2024)
- Narciso Crook (2024)
- Joey Marciano (2024)
- Keoni Cavaco (2025-present)
- Clint Coulter (2025)
- TJ Hopkins (2025-present)
- Will Kincanon (2025)
- Jeff Lindgren (2025)
- Anthony Ranaudo (2025-present)
- Chance Sisco (2025-present)
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chicago Dogs”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Chicago Dogs baseball.PNG by Unknown author, Fair use
- Chicago-Dogs-baseball-01.jpg by Brian Crawford, CC BY 2.0
- ChicagoDogsSqueeze.png by Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0
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