DETROIT -- The ire that Tarik Skubal directed toward the White Sox dugout on Friday night was unique, but it's pretty far from the first feedback they've gotten about the atmosphere they've conjured. It's just usually more often curiosity than condemnation.
"We've heard from other guys on other teams, or whoever, staff members have heard, 'What is going on your dugout?'" Mike Vasil said. "But we also love that, because it's kind of like, now our identity and who we are, so I think everybody loves it. I don't think we've ever gotten like pushback on anything [prior to Friday]. It's definitely now out there, though, about if you're playing the White Sox, there's gonna be some wild stuff that's going on."
The White Sox are far from a perfect team, as they have dropped back-to-back road series this week, have scored four runs in two games in Detroit, and have only four active starting pitchers, just one of which has avoided needing an opener at any point this season. But they also have had enough success in a season where not a ton was expected, where they view their team identity as pretty solidified.
Despite going without Kyle Teel for the entire season up to this point and losing Munetaka Murakami before their toughest stretch of schedule to date, the offense has, on balance, remained viable in a way that suggests there's notes of resilience embedded in their youthful exuberance. They're anticipating lulls and speed bumps because it's both the nature of the sport, and the nature of where they're at in the team's maturation process, and think they're doing pretty well all things considered.
"Look at all our hitters -- we have like two guys who are actual veterans," said Colson Montgomery. "Everyone else is young, rookies. It's a 'we know what we don't know,' type of thing. We just go up there and we play. We don't have that much experience with a lot of things, but we're just going to go out there, trust our work, trust our preparation and play our ass off. I think that's what helps us."
Whereas your therapist might be telling you that constantly using humor as a shield against expressing your actual fears and concerns is wearing thin, the Sox view it as a purposeful tool for processing and getting out in the open what everyone thinks about in low moments of a baseball season anyway. The postgame clubhouse vibe on Saturday was as funereal as any point in the season to date, and some goofiness can be part of the path back from it.
"There's a lot of teams where if you lose a game or two, the sky is falling," Vasil said. "We kind of embody that and joke around, lose a game and 'Ah well, season's over.' There's probably some feelings behind that because we lost and that sucks. But it's addressing that in a way and making fun of it.
"Because we're going to lose games, but we also know that we're going to win a lot. The more we can embody that and embrace that feeling with 'Oh man, we're done' and joke around about that, it keeps us loose in a way where there's almost more freedom to go for it, compared to 'Oh we should be winning all these games,' because I think that probably adds way more pressure."
Saturday's lineup that included both Andrew Benintendi and Randal Grichuk is a rare instance of the Sox starting multiple position players over the age of 26, and Vasil contends that the shenanigans-heavy dugout atmosphere wouldn't click if it weren't authentic to the young roster. But beyond of bunch of young men in their 20s make good money in the big leagues and feeling pretty great about themselves makes for a pleasant workplace, the Sox coaching staff sees a usefulness in the way this group comports itself.
Having a unique celebration for every brand of positive outcome -- home run, double, single, Sam Antonacci getting hit by a pitch -- can make a long and difficult season easier to survive. But also a sillier team is a more malleable one, amid team strategy that involves a lot of pinch-hitting and substitutions to play matchups.
"I have a good poker face, because I'll get in on the degeneracy every now and then," said bench coach Walker McKinven. "Our dugout is a wild place to be at 7 o'clock every night. It's a madhouse. I won't speak for our entire group of players that there's total buy-in for every single decision we make, right? There might not be. But I know this, that every guy is absolutely cheering on the guy that replaces them, rooting for everyone on this team to do their best. Everybody is playing for the guy next to them, which is totally a cliché, but is very, very apparent on this team."
"I'm much more of a modest celebrator," said Will Venable. "Some of those things, I would never come up with myself. But I love it. I support it. Those guys are having a great time, and I think it really makes a difference. Our vibe, the thing that these guys have created with all that stuff, it's organic, it's fun, and it's all about them and each other. So, I love it."
Just an inning after Skubal was done screaming at Vasil Friday night, he had his wand and wizard hat back on to celebrate Junior Pérez's first career home run, which the injured reliever referred to as a "pretty good chain of events." Along with Venable reiterating postgame that all the Sox dugout activity is "above board," it quickly answered any doubts about whether this weekend would crimp their style at all.
Maybe some disquieting losses to a struggling Tigers team dampen the found money atmosphere the White Sox have cultivated over the first three months of the season, or they're just getting started.
"With the games we've gone through and Cleveland coming up, we're in a tough stretch of games, but we're not breaking by any means," Vasil said. "Everyone in this locker room feels like we're in a great spot and we're about to get better. We're getting Teel back soon hopefully, Mune's rehab is going well. You add those two guys back and we'll see what happens."
