WORCESTER, Mass. – Excited was the word of the day at Polar Park as baseball fans were happy to be back watching the Worcester Red Sox for a third year.

Season ticket holder Mike Gilmore made it to the gate early. He said he takes pride in being first in line whenever he can.

“I’ve been here since 11:15 this morning,” Gilmore said. “I had no idea when the gates opened. Don’t want to miss it.”

A lot of WooSox fans made sure the team store was their first stop in the park Friday.

“The new program and just checking out the new merchandise such as the defenders of the diamond stuff!” said one fan named Aly when asked what this year’s go-to purchase was.

Aly lives near the park enjoys the many promotional nights the team hosts.

“It’s great because he and I get to come here for date nights, we get to bring the boys here, we have three beautiful boys and our youngest loves to come here,” she said. “We came here last year, we did the Santa thing, we did all kinds of fun stuff last year and we’re looking forward to doing it again this year.”

Some fans, like Andrew Cloutier, went straight for autograph ally. He said he looks forward to seeing the big-name players who make a stop in Worcester.

“It’s crazy, I mean I never thought I’d be able to meet these guys,” Cloutier said. “It’s awesome. I mean like, Jarren Durran, he’s been in the MLB for a long time, or for a longtime last season, and Bobby Dalbec obviously, since 2022, I mean, crazy to meet him. And we’ll see how it goes!”

Friday was game one of 150 for the WooSox this season, with 74 more chances for fans to watch the team at Polar Park still to come.