The Chicago White Sox rank last in saves this Major League Baseball season and sit at 49-88 overall with a 10-30 record in one-run games. The bullpen has struggled in high-leverage moments and most current relievers are not suited for late-inning roles. Mike Vasil emerged as a late-inning option, entering a save situation against the New York Yankees to face the middle of the order. Vasil induced two flyouts and struck out Cody Bellinger with a front-door two-seam fastball to secure the win. Vasil celebrated emphatically, prompting criticism and defense across social media.
The Chicago White Sox have the fewest saves of any team in Major League Baseball this season. With a 10-30 record in one-run games and 49-88 overall, there haven't been many opportunities for White Sox relievers to come up big in the clutch. The bullpen has also been noticeably bad in high-leverage moments. Most of the relief pitchers currently on the White Sox active roster are not built for the late innings. Mike Vasil, however, is proving to be cut from a different cloth.
Vasil came in for a save against the New York Yankees on Sunday, needing to get three big outs against the heart of the order to stop a White Sox losing skid. After inheriting a runner on first base and getting Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge to fly out, Vasil struck out Cody Bellinger looking with a nasty front door two-seam fastball.
Vasil's emotion had Yankees fans rattled after the game. On social media, many fans critiqued his celebration, feeling it was overkill for a team 40 games under .500. Even Codify Baseball chimed in with a now deleted tweet. White Sox fans quickly came to Vasil's defense. WST proves that bullying does work- they deleted their tweet coming after Mike Vasil pic.twitter.com/oQp...- Brett (@haffball7) August 31, 2025 Mike Vasil look fat af doing all that after the out lmfaoooo- xt (@lifeofxt) August 31, 2025 Mike Vasil celebrating like he won the WS, 2 days after giving up a HR to the worst player in the league is hilarious. Someone should remind him this is their 49th win and he's not going to the playoffs. Lmao.- me (@me_and_me_me_me) August 31, 2025 Why the FUCK is Mike Vasil so hyped😭 pic.twitter.com/oIO
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