CLEARWATER, Fla. — Three hours before Game 6 of the World Series, with a potential Game 7 start looming the next night, Ranger Suárez stepped on the field in Houston wearing not a red Phillies shirt but rather the navy and gold crest of the Union.
A show of support for the other pro sports team from Philadelphia that was playing for a championship that day? No doubt.
But Suárez’s uniform choice went beyond civic pride. The 27-year-old left-hander grew up playing soccer in Venezuela. Truth be told, fútbol is his first athletic passion. He was transfixed by the World Cup in December. His favorite player: “I was rooting for Messi,” he said, definitively.
