The Boston Red Sox made their long-awaited return to Wrigley Field on Friday night, opening up a three-game set with the Chicago Cubs. While many Red Sox fans and players relished the opportunity to see the iconic ballpark, one such member of the team was left unimpressed.
Josh Winckowski, a Red Sox rookie who has dazzled in his first five starts with the big-league club, came away from his Saturday start feeling... well, nothing about the 108-year-old landmark.
"To be honest, a little underwhelming. Fenway kind of has a presence to it. I didn't get that here," Winckowski told reporters after the loss, as transcribed by Ian Browne of MLB.com. "I think this place is very stock, standard if you ask me. I didn't really feel anything, to be honest. It kind of just felt like another ballpark."
Winckowski certainly approached his start at Wrigley like it was at any old ballpark, putting forth another solid start to begin his Major League career. The 24-year-old allowed a single earned run on six hits in six innings of work, giving the Red Sox a great chance to even up their series with the lowly Cubs, but the offense squandered a number of opportunities, resulting in the rookie's second loss in his young career.
The opinion on Wrigley Field, much like Fenway Park, is overwhelmingly positive for the most part. Baseball historians and new-school baseball fans alike can all find things to appreciate about the historic stadiums, making it that much more notable when someone has a differing opinion. Like former Cubs manager Lee Elia, who famously told the Wrigley faithful to "get a job" one day in 1982.
The Red Sox won't have to wait another decade to return to Wrigley, as Major League Baseball has implemented a schedule change for 2023 that will have every team play each other each year. Maybe we'll see Winckowski at Wrigley field again in the near future.
