{"id":822915,"date":"2026-10-06T12:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/822915\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:39:16","slug":"column-chicago-white-sox-in-a-groove-as-dance-moves-prove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/822915\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Chicago White Sox in a groove, as dance moves prove"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The rituals involved in any major-league baseball game have become commonplace over the last few years, befitting a generation that grew up with iPhones and social media.<\/p>\n

Hitters have unique hand gestures whenever they reach base. Outfielders have their own choreographed routines after the final outs of wins. And many teams feature a home run gimmick where the hitter dons some goofy costume or headgear.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all show biz, after all.<\/p>\n

The Chicago White Sox are no different from any other team and have no problem creating a viral moment before games, as they showed again before Monday\u2019s 4-3 win<\/a> over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dugout dance that kind of resembles the haka rituals of the All Blacks rugby team from New Zealand, full of rhythmic clapping and foot stomping and shouting. It can also resemble a Greek wedding reception, or a Soul Train dance line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of different handshakes that kind of evolved throughout the year,\u201d designated hitter Andrew Benintendi said. \u201c(Mike) Vasil is a big part of that. He\u2019s a big part of this team, and of us getting this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox are one win away from clinching<\/a> a spot in the American League Championship Series, and return home to Rate Field on Wednesday for what figures to be a dance-athon for the ages.<\/p>\n

It would appear the players and coaches have spent hours and hours of quality time together getting everyone on board and making sure the performance is in sync.<\/p>\n

But Vasil, the so-called \u201cWhite Sox Wizard,\u201d said that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we don\u2019t usually practice,\u201d Vasil said Monday before Game 2. \u201cIt kind of just happened one day pretty naturally. So once it happened it kind of took off, and the guys have loved it ever since. Everyone knows what to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cZero practice. Just all rhythm. Pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox players Mike Vasil and Miguel Vargas dance in the dugout while getting loose for a game against the Colorado Rockies at Rate Field in Chicago on Sept. 25, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Vasil, to no one\u2019s surprise, is in the middle of the dance party, which takes place minutes before the first pitch. Third base coach Justin Jirschele is frequently in the middle, though not\u00a0everyone has to play a part to get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of just watch,\u201d left fielder Sam Antonacci said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much the Wizard doing all that. He\u2019s the ringleader of that. And if you try to take over, it\u2019s not a good look because the Wizard will get on you.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I just sit back and enjoy the party, because there\u2019s something new every day that goes on with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others are more open to it, including manager Will Venable, who said he claps and stomps from outside the circle. Benintendi, who seems like the most unlikely dance fan, said he \u201cabsolutely\u201d takes to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps everybody loose, it\u2019s fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this group definitely likes to have fun. We do some unorthodox things. Whatever is working is working, so let\u2019s keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Center fielder Tristan Peters<\/a> said the routine began at the end of the regular season and picked up steam in the playoffs. He was in the middle of Monday\u2019s pregame dance routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cVasil just started doing that, the knee claps,\u201d Peters said. \u201cHe randomly started it and everybody started doing it along, and now that\u2019s part of our thing. He\u2019ll just drag random guys into the middle to do some dance moves. I\u2019ve gotten dragged into it a couple times, and I don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wait, you were a Savannah Banana and you don\u2019t know how to dance?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, I know,\u201d Peters said with a laugh. \u201cBut it\u2019s been a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

As long as they keep winning, look for the Sox to dance until they drop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 The rituals involved in any major-league baseball game have become commonplace over the last few years,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[52632,2458,77347,5,138,49,2561,51,87722,6278,4,2305,2303,17709,30019,100149,396,2562,998],"class_list":["post-822915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-alds-game-3","tag-american-league-division-series","tag-andrew-beintendi","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-justin-jirschele","tag-mike-vasil","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-sam-antonacci","tag-tristan-peters","tag-what-time-is-the-white-sox-game","tag-white-sox","tag-whitesox","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117394012164191961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}