Worcester Red Sox

In February 2015, a group of New England business leaders, led by Larry Lucchino, purchased the Pawtucket Red Sox, Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox since 1973.[7] By mid-April, ownership was exploring moving the team from Pawtucket to Providence, Rhode Island.[8] In September, Governor of Rhode Island Gina Raimondo stated that the land in Providence being considered for a stadium, "was not suitable and there were too many obstacles that remained."[9] During 2016, a feasibility study was conducted on potential renovations of the team's Pawtucket ballpark, McCoy Stadium; and from mid-2017 to mid-2018, building a new ballpark in Pawtucket was explored.[10][11]

A financing arrangement for partial public-funding of new stadium in Pawtucket was rejected by team ownership, who announced on August 17, 2018, that the team would relocate to a new stadium in Worcester, Massachusetts, in April 2021.[12] While it was initially reported that team would be named the Worcester Red Sox, the club announced a "name-that-team" competition in November 2018.[13] The team name was officially announced on November 25, 2019,[14] and confirmed to be the Worcester Red Sox with "WooSox" as the nickname.[15]

Like Providence, Worcester fielded a short-lived major league ballclub in the early 1880s, the Worcester Worcesters, who competed in the National League.[16]

Debut season

Polar Park

In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Red Sox were organized into the 20-team Triple-A East.[17] Billy McMillon, who had previously managed the Pawtucket Red Sox, was named Worcester's first manager.[18] The team's first games were originally planned for April;[19] however, the start of the Triple-A season was delayed into May.[20] The team released its debut roster on May 3,[21] and opened the season on May 4 with a loss against the Buffalo Bisons in a game played in Trenton, New Jersey.[22]

The team played select games as "Los Wepas de Worcester" when participating in the Copa de la Diversión, a Minor League Baseball celebration of Hispanic and Latino heritage.[23] In December 2021, team was named winners of the Copa de la Diversión series, and were awarded the "Fun Cup".[24]

"Finish" represents the team's final position in its division at the end of regular-season play.

Note: In 2021, each Triple-A team played a 10-game extension to the season, branded as the "Final Stretch";[28] Worcester went 66–52 per their original schedule, then 8–2 during the Final Stretch, for a final record of 74–54.

A new ballpark was constructed for the team, opening for the 2021 Triple-A season.[12] The cost (including land acquisition) was $159 million, with over half of the amount paid by the City of Worcester.[29] With a capacity of approximately 10,000 spectators, it was named Polar Park through a sponsorship and naming rights agreement with Polar Beverages, which is headquartered in Worcester. The first Triple-A game was played at the ballpark on May 11, 2021, with Worcester hosting the Syracuse Mets.[30]

On December 4, 2019, the team announced that uniform number 6 would be permanently retired, in honor of the six Worcester Fire Department firefighters who perished exactly twenty years prior, in the line of duty while fighting the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire.[31]

In March 2020, WORC-FM (an affiliate of Nash Icon) was named as the team's flagship radio station.[32] The broadcasters as of 2022 are Tyler Murray, Jim Cain, Mike Antonellis, and Cooper Boardman.[33] It was later announced that radio coverage would be split between WORC-FM and WWFX.[4] Select games are televised on NESN+.[34]

• Bonner, Michael (November 12, 2019). "'We can't forget': Worcester Red Sox retire No. 6, will reserve seats to honor memory of city's fallen firefighters". masslive.com. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
• Dykstra, Sam (May 11, 2021). "Woo fans bid Sox hello". MiLB.com. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
• "Why WooSox?". MiLB.com. Worcester Red Sox. 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
• "'Polar Park-ing Plan' provides more than 7,300 spaces; fans likely to use 2,500 at full capacity". MiLB.com. Worcester Red Sox. May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2021.

• Official website