Josh Winckowski ruffled a few feathers in Chicago over the weekend, but he was just calling it like he sees it.
The Boston Red Sox pitcher admitted he found historic Wrigley Field "a little underwhelming" after his start against the Cubs on Saturday.
"Fenway (Park) kind of has a presence to it. I really didn’t get that here, to be honest," Winckowski said following his outing, via MassLive.com. "I said to my mom (Friday) night, 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."
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Unsurprisingly, Winckowski took a good deal of blowback from Cubs fans for downplaying the aura of their beloved ballpark. Joining NESN's Tom Caron on the "TC & Company" podcast Wednesday, the 24-year-old rookie insisted he wasn't calling out the Cubs faithful for being bad fans.
“People want authenticity and honesty a whole bunch, and then you give them a little bit, and then people take it personally," Winckowski said. "One thing I will say, I was not attacking the fans with that comment."
But Winckowski stood by his observation that the 108-year-old Wrigley Field lacked Fenway's charm.
"As a rookie, obviously, every time you get to a new ballpark you get into the dugout and kind of look around," Winkowski said. "When I [arrived], there were no fans in the stadium, so I didn’t have that feel. And my initial impression was, honestly, what I said. The lower level and then the top was just very standard in my opinion.
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"It was a good atmosphere. You can definitely feel it and obviously I don’t underestimate the history there. But architecturally, I stand by my comment."
Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are the two oldest MLB ballparks by a wide margin, and both have distinctive features, from the outfield ivy at Wrigley to the Green Monster at Fenway. Winckowski may have been expecting a more unique atmosphere in Chicago, though, and it sounds like his experience didn't live up to the hype.
Winckowski allowed just one earned run over six innings while striking out six Saturday but took the loss in a 3-1 Red Sox defeat. He and the Red Sox won't be coming back to Wrigley anytime soon -- this was Boston's first trip to Chicago's North Side since 2012 -- so Winckowski's comments likely will blow over in due time.