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Excited for WooSox games this spring? According to USA TODAY 10BEST Readers' Choice Awards, the minor league team has one of the best ballparks and one of the best mascots in the country.
The annual 10BEST awards highlight the best in travel, food and lifestyle, and winners are chosen by a public voting poll after being nominated by industry experts. In the best of baseball awards, which include rankings of ballpark food, batting cages, training facilities and more, the WooSox ranked sixth in the minor league ballpark category and third in the minor league mascot category.
Here's why.
Located in the Canal District of New England's second-largest city, Polar Park was designed by Larry Lucchino and Janet Marie Smith. The 9,000-seat park first opened in 2021, when the Triple-A team moved from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to Worcester.
USA TODAY named the ballpark as the sixth best minor league ballpark in the nation, praising it as cozy and beloved by fans, saying "the WooSox are the only club in all of Minor League Baseball to sell more than 500,000 tickets each of the last three years."
Polar Park made many improvements in 2025, including games at Woofster’s Landing, an ice cream sign on top of Sherwood’s Diner, 18 new ADA-compliant seats, additional Adirondack chairs, colorful lights and the Royal Wooters Club, a climate-controlled lounge for season ticket members complete with a cool bar and pool table. Ahead of opening day this year, the park added a new canopy over Hanover Deck and completed the patio above the Worcester Wall.
Tickets and schedules for WooSox games at Polar Park this season can be found online. Polar Park also offers tours priced at $10 for adults or $5 for children.
USA TODAY honored Smiley Ball, one of the official mascots of the WooSox, as the third best minor league mascot in the country.
Smiley Ball is a large yellow smiley face who wears a WooSox baseball cap and red socks. With a smile on his face and a baseball bat in hand, the bright yellow ball of joy not only represents the WooSox, but also the history of Worcester, the birthplace of the smiley face.
Other WooSox mascots include Woofster the WonderDog, Smiley Ball's pet; Roberto the Rocket, a large blue rocket named for father of space travel and Worcester native Robert Goddard; and Clara the Heart of the Commonwealth, a large red heart in a nurse uniform who pays tribute to first responders.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: WooSox ballpark, mascot some of best in nation, according to USA TODAY
Continue reading...
The annual 10BEST awards highlight the best in travel, food and lifestyle, and winners are chosen by a public voting poll after being nominated by industry experts. In the best of baseball awards, which include rankings of ballpark food, batting cages, training facilities and more, the WooSox ranked sixth in the minor league ballpark category and third in the minor league mascot category.
Here's why.
About Polar Park
Located in the Canal District of New England's second-largest city, Polar Park was designed by Larry Lucchino and Janet Marie Smith. The 9,000-seat park first opened in 2021, when the Triple-A team moved from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to Worcester.
USA TODAY named the ballpark as the sixth best minor league ballpark in the nation, praising it as cozy and beloved by fans, saying "the WooSox are the only club in all of Minor League Baseball to sell more than 500,000 tickets each of the last three years."
Polar Park made many improvements in 2025, including games at Woofster’s Landing, an ice cream sign on top of Sherwood’s Diner, 18 new ADA-compliant seats, additional Adirondack chairs, colorful lights and the Royal Wooters Club, a climate-controlled lounge for season ticket members complete with a cool bar and pool table. Ahead of opening day this year, the park added a new canopy over Hanover Deck and completed the patio above the Worcester Wall.
Tickets and schedules for WooSox games at Polar Park this season can be found online. Polar Park also offers tours priced at $10 for adults or $5 for children.
About Smiley Ball
USA TODAY honored Smiley Ball, one of the official mascots of the WooSox, as the third best minor league mascot in the country.
Smiley Ball is a large yellow smiley face who wears a WooSox baseball cap and red socks. With a smile on his face and a baseball bat in hand, the bright yellow ball of joy not only represents the WooSox, but also the history of Worcester, the birthplace of the smiley face.
Other WooSox mascots include Woofster the WonderDog, Smiley Ball's pet; Roberto the Rocket, a large blue rocket named for father of space travel and Worcester native Robert Goddard; and Clara the Heart of the Commonwealth, a large red heart in a nurse uniform who pays tribute to first responders.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: WooSox ballpark, mascot some of best in nation, according to USA TODAY
Continue reading...
