en-us SportSpyder - Mike Vasil https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/news From the intensity of the Crosstown Series to daily work, Episode 4 of Beyond 162, presented by @Rate_Official, takes you inside the clubhouse, dugout and ga... Tue, 26 May 2026 15:42:13 GMT Chicago White Sox https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56745513 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56745513 false false The Chicago White Sox reached the 50-game mark at 26-24, a place that would have sounded ambitious when camp broke in Arizona. They reached that point coming off a Crosstown series that felt bigger than another May weekend. The White Sox took two of three from the Cubs at Rate Field, drew three straight crowds […] The post appeared first on . Sat, 23 May 2026 13:54:55 GMT Adrian White https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56718675 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56718675 false false On May 8, 2025, Chicago native and Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. Soon after the announcement, news broke that the newest Holy Man was a lifelong White Sox fan who was in the crowd for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series. Because Chicago can’t be chill about anything, and the White […] Sat, 23 May 2026 13:15:24 GMT Chrystal O'Keefe https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56718420 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56718420 false false Hear live from Mike Vasil in the dugout during Saturday's game vs. the Cubs.SUBSCRIBE for more exclusive Chicago White Sox videos: https://www.youtube.com/wh... Mon, 18 May 2026 23:29:32 GMT Chicago White Sox https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56666023 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56666023 false false CHICAGO -- Mike Vasil’s sorcery with a magic dugout wand. His foray into broadcasting. Sam Antonacci’s bow at home plate. Miguel Vargas’ post-home run barks. The pregame handshakes. The sushi dinner in San Diego. Mon, 18 May 2026 14:57:54 GMT Scott Merkin https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56658766 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56658766 false false Munetaka Murakami wasn’t supposed to end up with the Chicago White Sox, but he's there and he's thriving. Mon, 18 May 2026 14:48:14 GMT @foxsports https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56658619 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56658619 false false Shades of 1977? After an epic win Sunday in the City Series, the Chicago White Sox look like they can contend in the weak American League Central. Mon, 18 May 2026 01:21:09 GMT Paul Sullivan https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56654207 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56654207 false false To say something unusual is happening on the South Side might be an understatement. After maybe the most dramatic city series game ever played, injured White Sox pitcher Mike Vasil described some of t... Mon, 18 May 2026 00:09:41 GMT Mike McGraw https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56653709 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56653709 false false White Sox Pitcher Mike Vasil: "Our thought is to play baseball in October"Do you believe the White Sox are a playoff team? #whitesox #Baseball #MLB #MLBplayoffs Sun, 17 May 2026 22:33:56 GMT ESPN Chicago https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56653018 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56653018 false false CUBS LINEUP — A big win in game one (+ 5 runs) plus a big loss in game two (-5 runs) means we’ve got ourselves a rubber match today on the South Side of Chicago. Colin Rea is on the bump for the Cubs. And here’s a look at today’s Cubs lineup against Erick Fedde and the White Sox. Chicago Cubs Lineup: Nico Hoerner, 2B Michael Busch, 1B Alex Bregman, 3B Ian Happ, LF Seiya Suzuki, RF Michael Conforto, DH Carson Kelly, C Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF Dansby Swanson, SS Craig Counsell is back to a more normal-looking Cubs lineup for the finale at Rate Field this afternoon, with one exception (which is maybe not even an exception anymore): Michael Conforto is starting at DH, not Moises Ballesteros. In case you hadn’t noticed, Ballesteros has a total of 3 hits in his last 51 plate appearances. And while he’s not striking out really at all during that stretch (21.6 K%), the results are obviously alarming. To be fair, he’s still walking too and has an 11.1% barrel rate. So I think that may just be some extreme bad luck. But, like, come on. It’s not working at the moment. It’s okay to let Conforto eat. Indeed, in May, Conforto has been every bit as good as he has been all season. We’re talking about just 25 plate appearances, but he’s done a lot with them: 2 singles, 4 walks, 4 doubles, 2 homers, and just five strikeouts. That’s a .381/.480/.857 (265 wRC+) slash line. LOL. And honestly, it’s not even much weaker when you include his full season: .333/.444/.608 (194 wRC+). Nobody thinks this is who he’s going to be all year, but how can you not let a former star hitter like this see what he’s got left in the tank? You gotta. Meanwhile, here’s hoping the full day off for Dansby Swanson and Carson Kelly and half-day of rest for Ian Happ can help get this team back into gear. Today is hardly a must-win game, but let me remind you that the Brewers are tied with the Cubs in the loss column. And the Cardinals aren’t very far behind … NL Central Standings: Cubs: 29-17 Brewers: 26-17 Cardinals: 27-18 Pirates: 24-22 Reds: 24-22 It’s no time to mess around. Beat the White Sox and get ready for tomorrow. Chicago White Sox Lineup: Sam Antonacci, LF Munetaka Murakami, 1B Miguel Vargas, 3B Colson Montgomery, SS Chase Meidroth, 2B Andrew Benintendi, DH Edgar Quero, C Tristan Peters, CF Derek Hill, RF Pitching Matchup: Chicago Cubs: The Dodgers (6ER in 3.1 IP) and the Braves (5ER in 4.1 IP) both rocked Colin Rea this season, though that’s not an entirely unexpected outcome, right? Those are two of the best lineups in baseball, and Rea is a 35-year-old right-hander who wasn’t even supposed to be in the rotation. But that’s not drawing a full picture of Rea’s season. Because in his other seven outings, Rea has allowed an equal number of earned runs (11) over 34.2 IP, good for a 2.86 ERA. Let’s hope that’s the guy we get today. Chicago White Sox: With a 3.77 ERA over 43.0 IP, Erick Fedde has logged some really solid results so far this season … buuuuuuut his underlying statistics show a very different story: 6.03 FIP, 4.16 xERA. The gap there? It’s all about the lack of strikeouts. Fedde has struck out only 14.7% of batters faced this season, which might be even lower today as the Cubs are one of the lowest strikeout teams in baseball (20.7%, 5th best in the league). And while the overall hard-hit rate isn’t particularly high, his barrel rate is worse than average. The Cubs will need to earn it, as he doesn’t walk guys, but this feels like a perfectly juicy matchup for this Cubs lineup. He’s a guy they really should hit just fine. Broadcast Info: Matchup: at 1:10 CT How to Watch Today’s Cubs Game: Marquee Sports Network, CHSN, MLB.TV Free Game of the Day How to Listen to Today’s Cubs Game: 104.3 The Score, ESPN 1000 Cubs vs White Sox – Key Injuries: : Matthew Boyd, SP Hunter Harvey, RP Riley Martin, RP Caleb Thielbar, RP Jordan Wicks, SP Tyler Austin, IF/OF (60-Day IL) Porter Hodge, RP (60-Day IL) Cade Horton, SP (60-Day IL) Shelby Miller, RP (60-Day IL) Justin Steele, SP (60-Day IL) : Kyle Teel, C Everson Pereira, OF Austin Hays, OF Taj Bradley, SP Ky Bush, SP Prelander Berroa, SP Drew Thorpe, SP Mike Vasil, RP Brooks Baldwin, OF/IF Tanner Murray, IF/OF Cubs vs White Sox – Rate Field Location: Chicago, IL Temperature: 78 degrees Wind: Blowing in, strong Sun, 17 May 2026 16:30:27 GMT Michael Cerami https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56650274 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56650274 false false The power of Mike Vasil's wand continues its magic as it leads to Munetaka Murakami's 16th homer of the season Tue, 19 May 2026 00:21:48 GMT @whitesox https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56666457 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56666457 false false CUBS LINEUP — Whew. It feels good to win that first one (especially with ten runs after a week of hardly scoring anything at all). Now, the Cubs have two chances to win this series on the South Side, heading into a very big series (well, relatively speaking) next week against the Brewers. Here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for Game 2 at Rate Field, with Jameson Taillon on the mound for Chicago against the Sox right-hander, Davis Martin. Chicago Cubs Lineup: Nico Hoerner, SS Michael Busch, 1B Alex Bregman, 3B Ian Happ, DH Seiya Suzuki, RF Michael Conforto, LF Matt Shaw, 2B Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF Miguel Amaya, C A few changes tonight, starting with Ian Happ at DH and Michael Conforto out in left field. That’s a nice little half-day of rest for Happer, plus a full day off for Moises Ballesteros, at least until Shaw comes up in a big spot against a tough righty late. Dansby Swanson is also getting a full night off, with Nico Hoerner sliding over to short and Shaw coming in to play second base. Carson Kelly is the final regular getting a day of rest, though that’s just the usual catcher churn. Amaya steps in behind the plate, batting ninth. As I discuss below, tonight’s Sox starter, Davis Martin, has been on some kind of tear to start this season. So here’s hoping these changes can flip the script on him a bit. Would be really nice to head into the Sunday finale with the series already won. Chicago White Sox Lineup: Sam Antonacci, LF Munetaka Murakami, 1B Miguel Vargas, 3B Colson Montgomery, SS Chase Meidroth, 2B Andrew Benintendi, DH Jared Kelenic, RF Tristan Peters, CF Drew Romo, C Pitching Matchup: Chicago Cubs: After a slip-up in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, Jameson Taillon has turned in three really nice starts in a row. First, he held the Padres to just three earned runs over 7.0 innings in San Diego. Then, he kept the Reds to 2ER over 5.2 innings at Wrigley. And most recently, he held the Rangers to 1ER over 5.1 innings in Texas. There have been a lot of home runs, a lot of barrels, and not very many strikeouts or groundballs all season, but Taillon is who he is at this point in his career. And more often than not, “who he is” is a guy who gives his team a chance to win on any given day. Let’s hope that continues tonight against the Sox, who, again, are much weaker vs RHP (98 wRC+) than they are against lefties (119 wRC+). Chicago White Sox: Davis Martin has been quietly electric this season. His shortest and worst outing of the year was his first of the season, and that was 3ER over 5.0 innings pitched in Miami. Since then, he’s allowed just SIX earned runs over 45.0 IP with 46 Ks and just eight walks. That is a 1.20 ERA over 7 starts. Absurd, absurd stuff. But we can get even crazier. Over his last four starts, he’s struck out 33 batters (vs 4 walks) with just 3ER in 25.0 IP. There has been some hard contact, perhaps a little more than you’d expect for a guy with so many strikeouts and such good results, but he has been able to stay off the barrel enough to credibly limit the damage. The big difference-maker this season seems to be a drammatic increase in batters offering at pitches out of the zone: his 35.7 o-swing% ranks 8th best in MLB. For reference, Shota Imanaga actually leads the league at 39.7%. Martin throws SIX pitches over 11.3% of the time, too, so he can attack opposing lineups a LOT of different ways. You may not know his name or be too familiar with him right now, but Davis Martin is not going to be an easy matchup for the Cubs lineup this evening. Just keep that in mind. Broadcast Info: at 6:10 CT – Marquee Sports Network, CHSN, 104.3 The Score, ESPN 1000 Cubs vs White Sox – Key Injuries: : Matthew Boyd, SP Hunter Harvey, RP Riley Martin, RP Caleb Thielbar, RP Jordan Wicks, SP Tyler Austin, IF/OF (60-Day IL) Porter Hodge, RP (60-Day IL) Cade Horton, SP (60-Day IL) Shelby Miller, RP (60-Day IL) Justin Steele, SP (60-Day IL) : Kyle Teel, C Everson Pereira, OF Austin Hays, OF Taj Bradley, SP Ky Bush, SP Prelander Berroa, SP Drew Thorpe, SP Mike Vasil, RP Brooks Baldwin, OF/IF Tanner Murray, IF/OF Cubs vs White Sox – Rate Field Location: Chicago, IL Temperature: 82 degrees Wind: Blowing right to left, weak Sun, 17 May 2026 14:46:27 GMT Michael Cerami https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56649551 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56649551 false false The accounting department is probably on top of this already, but the White Sox will need to adjust the fireworks budget this season. When Saturday's game against the Cubs ended, the White Sox were ti... Sun, 17 May 2026 04:16:37 GMT Mike McGraw https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56647104 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56647104 false false CUBS LINEUP — The Cubs were able to escape Atlanta with a narrow win over Chris Sale and the Braves last night. But the offense has been ice cold for over a week at this point. We need them to get going tonight against the Sox. Here’s a look at Craig Counsell’s Cubs lineup for Game 1 with Edward Cabrerea on the mound and against the righty, Sean Burke. Chicago Cubs Lineup: Nico Hoerner, 2B Michael Busch, 1B Alex Bregman, 3B Ian Happ, LF Seiya Suzuki, RF Moises Ballesteros, DH Carson Kelly, C Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF Dansby Swanson, SS I know the Cubs offense *has* been cold, but I look at that group of players, knowing that Michael Conforto, Matt Shaw, and Miguel Amaya are able bodies on the bench, and I just … like it. I don’t know if they’re going to be shut down for much longer. In fact, I think things turn around tonight. No special notes today, as it’s a pretty straightforward group. The only real choices (who bats second, and who is the DH) went the default route – Michael Busch and Moises Ballesteros, respectively. I do think it’s almost time to think about moving PCA back up a little higher, though. Unless, Ballesteros starts swining it again. Chicago White Sox Lineup: Sam Antonacci, LF Munetaka Murakami, 1B Miguel Vargas, 3B Colson Montgomery, SS Chase Meidroth, 2B Andrew Benintendi, DH Jared Kelenic, RF Tristan Peters, CF Drew Romo, C Pitching Matchup: Chicago Cubs: Edward Cabrera’s most recent start was his worst in a Cubs uniform: 5.0 IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K. That’s tied for the fewest innings completed and is first in most earned runs allowed. He did strike out six against just one walk *and* got a lot of groundballs (57.1%), but it wasn’t a good game overall. More specifically, there was a TON of hard contact, which, frankly, has been an issue of his all season: 91.9 MPH EV (3rd worst in MLB) 12.8 Barrel% (4th worst in MLB) Lefties have been a particular challenge for Cabrera this season, and unfortunately for him, the White Sox have a lot of lefty hitters. HOWEVER, the Sox, as a whole, have actually been a lot worse against right-handed pitching than they have against lefties. So … I don’t know. What I do know is that today would be a great time for his first wire-to-wire dominant outing. He’s had some good games this year, but I want to see a full on breakout. Chicago White Sox: Sean Burke’s first and most recent starts this year were pretty bad (those were against the Brewers and Mariners), but in between those games, he’s been great for six straight: 35.2 IP, 2.27 ERA. There aren’t a ton of Ks, but the walk rate is low, the barrel rate is tiny, and the average exit velocity is roughly league average. Burke leads his attack with a 94 MPH heater, but mixes in a knuckle curve every four pitches. He also throws a sinker, cutter, and changeup, to a lesser extent, and in descending order of usage. He’s pretty close to split-neutral for his career, but this season, lefties are doing a lot more damage than righties. Just not much in an overall sense, because, as I’ve mentioned, he’s been solid. Time to turn that around. Broadcast Info: at 6:40 CT – Marquee Sports Network, CHSN, MLB.TV Free Game of the Day, WCIU TV, 104.3 The Score, ESPN 1000 Cubs vs White Sox – Key Injuries: : Matthew Boyd, SP Hunter Harvey, RP Riley Martin, RP Caleb Thielbar, RP Jordan Wicks, SP Tyler Austin, IF/OF (60-Day IL) Porter Hodge, RP (60-Day IL) Cade Horton, SP (60-Day IL) Shelby Miller, RP (60-Day IL) Justin Steele, SP (60-Day IL) : Kyle Teel, C Everson Pereira, OF Austin Hays, OF Taj Bradley, SP Ky Bush, SP Prelander Berroa, SP Drew Thorpe, SP Mike Vasil, RP Brooks Baldwin, OF/IF Tanner Murray, IF/OF Cubs vs White Sox – Rate Field Location: Chicago, IL Temperature: 72 degrees Wind: Blowing right to left, moderate+ Fri, 15 May 2026 21:19:12 GMT Michael Cerami https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56635496 https://sportspyder.com/players/77056-mike-vasil/articles/56635496 false false