Polar Park

The main entrance to Polar Park off Madison Street, Sep-2021.

A good view of the conventional seating options.

The field, as seen from the concourse on the first-base side.

Chronological Tour: Stop 420

• Location: Madison Street (MA 122) at Washington Street near Kelley Square, Worcester, Mass. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2021
• Home team: Worcester Red Sox, International League (2021-present)
• Capacity: 9,508

Rating: 3 baseballs

After years of bickering over a new ballpark in the club’s old home of Pawtucket, R.I., Worcester stepped forward and lured the Red Sox affiliate up the Blackstone River. The home of the WooSox is located just off Kelley Square, a perennially congested rotary intersection of six streets just off the I-290 freeway. It is also alongside the Boston & Worcester railroad tracks (now part of CSX).

The park is decked out in navy blue, the predominant color of the club (it is an alternate color for the parent Boston Red Sox). All the seats are blue, as is the outfield wall, including a Blue Monster, except that here it is in right field. The club is in the process of building out a walk-around concourse that will encompass two local streets that are being vacated for the project; an old Worcester dining car has been installed on the street beyond right field and will presumably be a social area of the park, perhaps even serving up breakfast.

While all the seats have fine views of the action, one significant flaw is that many spectators along the third-base side do not have a view of the entire main video board. Where I sat, for instance, I could only see about half the board, although I did have a clear view of the lineup while it was being displayed. While the board could be moved farther out, that becomes a rather expensive proposition. If they can do it, I will gladly award this park a fourth baseball.

A fifth baseball probably will not come to this park based on the traffic congestion issue I mentioned above. Traffic on Madison Street before and after games is rough, and there is also very limited (and expensive) parking. I was able to find an on-street space for free parking about three blocks away by arriving about 45 minutes before game time; that had the advantage of a fairly easy exit into Kelley Square as well.