Kevin's Baseball Stadium Blog: Polar Park

Attendance: 7,725
Time of Game: 2 hours, 4 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Worcester, MA
Opened: 2021
Capacity: 9,508
Level: Triple A
League: International

On Wednesday, I started my journey back home from Maine, but I still had a couple more stops to make on the way. It was a pretty crazy weather day in Massachusetts as one minute it would be pouring rain and the next the sun would be out. This pattern continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening. As game time approached in Worcester, it was apparent they were going to wait for another line of showers to pass before getting the game started as the mound and plate areas were covered despite no rain at the time. Indeed, another strong line of storms swept through which kept the game delayed for the better part of two hours. Eventually, the game was postponed and rescheduled as a double header on Thursday afternoon. I thought the postponement was perhaps a tad unnecessary because it did not rain much more after that. But I'm sure the bar for postponement is much lower in the minors. And I was okay with getting to see two games for the price of one the following day. I was pretty fortunate that it took this long for my first postponement of the year. And it came at an ideal time because I was able to simply push the rest of my schedule back a day since I was slated to return home on a Friday and had a weekend to spare. So I got to spend an extra day in Massachusetts' second largest city.

For 50 years, the Red Sox AAA team was located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island before they relocated to Worcester in the brand new Polar Park for the 2021 season. Polar Park is the newest ballpark I've been to this year and I'm pretty sure no other MLB affiliated teams anywhere have opened stadiums in the three years since, although that will change next year. While I'm sure the PawSox were beloved too, Worcester is an ideal location for this franchise as it is just ~45 miles from Boston. Fans from Boston could take the train to Union Station in Worcester and make the short walk to the park from there if they'd like. Polar Park is located just south of downtown in an area that I have come to learn has been going through major revitalization in the years since this park opened. Train tracks run just beyond the stadium perimeter in left field and I saw several freight and commuter trains pass by over the course of my two days at the park. There are a ton of unique features to this park. Unlike most minor league stadiums I've been to, there are actually several different entry points, including two along Summit Street which runs beyond the stadium in right field. On game days, they shut down the street and essentially make it within the perimeter of the stadium, adding additional dining and entertainment options for ticket holders. I'm not totally sure it is necessary because there are plenty of options within the walls of the park as well. A concourse circles the entire stadium. The concourse above the main seating areas in foul territory is impressively large for a minor league park, and came in handy when waiting out the rain on Wednesday. There are multiple full service bars, food trucks, and traditional concession stands as well. There is a party deck down the third base line and berm seating in left field which was filled with youth groups for the Thursday afternoon game. And then there is the Worcester Wall in right field, another nod to Fenway's Green Monster. Except this one is in right field, is blue and not quite as tall. Like in Boston, there is seating available above the wall. Unlike Fenway, anyone can at least make their way around those sections to see what the view is like. Finally, there is plenty of luxury seating in the second level. This park really has everything you could want in a baseball facility. If I had to make one tiny complaint, it is also probably the most expensive minor league ballpark I've been to this year for both tickets and concessions. I would say it is worth it though.

In the minor leagues, doubleheaders are played as a pair of seven inning games, which was fine by me on this day because it was a quite steamy afternoon and the first game managed to last nearly three hours anyway. This was a rematch of the Blue Jays and Red Sox AAA affiliates who I saw play each other in Buffalo in June. Game 1 was the Enmanuel Valdez show. Mostly for good reasons, but some bad too. The second baseman who has spent time with the big league club in Boston each of the past two years managed to record five hits in a seven inning game. He also committed two errors. Sloppy defense was a major factor in this game for both teams. Buffalo got on the board in the first on a RBI double by Will Wagner, son of all-time great closer Billy Wagner. Wagner's double came in his first plate appearance with Buffalo after being traded by the Astros to the Blue Jays in the Yusei Kikuchi trade a few days prior. Wagner didn't spend much time with Buffalo though as he has since made his MLB debut. In the bottom of the first, Worcester had the bases loaded with two outs when Eddy Alvarez beat out a force attempt on a routine grounder to short allowing a run to score. Not getting an out on that play proved quite costly for the Bisons as two more singles and an error plated another four runs to give the Red Sox a 5-1 lead after one. Buffalo then had their big inning assisted by poor defense in the top of the third. They tied the game, scoring four runs on five singles and a pair of errors. Worcester immediately answered with a pair of runs to take a 7-5 lead, which they then gave back in an ugly top of the fourth. Jonatan Clase, another guy new to Buffalo, acquired in a trade with Seattle, reached on Valdez's second throwing error in as many innings. He then stole second and advanced to third and home on a pair of wild pitches. There were also two walks and a hit batter in the inning which ultimately led to two Bisons runs without the benefit of a hit. So through 3 1/2 innings, the game was tied at seven. Not the crispest 3 1/2 innings I've ever seen. Things settled a little bit after that. After the WooSox scored one in the bottom of the fifth, Will Robertson came up with two outs and nobody on in the top of the sixth and lined a ball to center that center fielder Mark Contreras made a poor decision to lunge after and missed. The ball rolled all the way to the wall and Robertson rounded the bases for an inside the park home run, which was also aided by a couple less than stellar relay throws. I later learned that this was the first inside the park homer in Polar Park history. The game remained tied into the bottom of the seventh, the last inning of regulation. Worcester loaded the bases with one out on a couple singles, including Valdez's fifth of the game, and a walk. Up came Jamie Westbrook, who had just been demoted from Boston the day before. He lined a walk-off single to center to push the WooSox to a 9-8 victory. It was my second straight game seeing walk-off hits, repeating something that happened on my trip in June, albeit on singles this time instead of homers. Both of these walk-off winners were by Red Sox affiliates. Additionally, both of the games between Worcester and Buffalo I had seen to this point ended in walk-offs.

After that 17 run, 23 hit, 4 error game, I didn't *really* need to see another game. And most of the large crowd from the first game must have felt the same way because not many stuck around for the second. But I didn't have anything better to do on a Thursday afternoon in Worcester. Also, Game 2 allowed me to see a couple of interesting players who were held out of the WooSox lineup in Game 1 including rehabbing slugger Triston Casas and former top prospect Vaughn Grissom, who was the only player the Red Sox received in the Chris Sale trade last winter, a trade they would probably like to have back right about now. Grissom did get this game off to a bang though as he and his teammates teed off on Buffalo's veteran right hander James Kaprielian. In the bottom of the first after Cases reached on a hit by pitch, Grissom homered to left. Three batters later, WooSox catcher Nathan Hickey absolutely demolished a ball over the Worcester Wall and the concession stand on the concourse behind it for another two run homer. In the second, Chase Meidroth lined one over the left field wall for the third Red Sox homer of the game, giving them a seemingly safe 5-0 lead. It was not actually safe. Worcester starting pitcher Zach Penrod had an interesting afternoon. At times, he was pretty dominant racking up seven strikeouts in three innings. But most of the balls that were actually put into play did not find gloves, particularly in the rough third inning. Buffalo had already scored two runs and reloaded the bases on three hits and two walks before Robertson, one of the few players to start both games, came to the plate. Robertson won this lefty-on-lefty matchup slugging a grand slam to right center, giving the Bisons a 6-5 lead. Quite a day for Robertson with homers in both games, an inside the parker and a grand slam. The fourth was another rough inning for Worcester pitchers, with Jorge Benitez in for Penrod. Alan Roden led off with a double for the second straight inning. Two walks later, the Bisons had the bases loaded again. Benitez hit Damiano Palmegiani to bring in a run. Then he walked Gabriel Cancel to score another one. The Bisons led 8-5 through 3 1/2. The Red Sox released Benitez after this ugly appearance. Turns out, the Worcester bats went cold after this as they did not record another hit after the third. 8-5 was the final, a double header split and Buffalo won the rubber match of the three games I saw these teams play this year.

That brought an end to my extra day in Worcester. It was worth sticking around as I got to watch two games in one of the nicest minor league ballparks I've seen. That was my final AAA stop of the year. The next day, I headed west to Hudson Valley, New York.

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