It isn’t the World Cup, but for Phillies pitcher and soccer fanatic Ranger Suárez, the WBC was too good to pass up

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 best World Cup of my life” in December. His favorite player: “I was rooting for Messi,” he said definitively, of the Argentine star who finally won a World Cup at 35.

Legend has it that Suárez even joined a men’s soccer league in Clearwater, Fla., while playing in rookie ball with the Phillies in 2015.

True story?

Partially, it seems.

“Unfortunately, I have to tell you that the rumor is not true,” Suárez said Sunday, with a hearty laugh and through a team interpreter. “I did want to join the soccer league, but I was unable to do it. I played a game and then I didn’t come back because I had to do [elbow] rehab and other things. You get to an age where you’re like, “I’ve got to be careful with injuries.’”

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OK, so Suárez will never play in a World Cup. But he did pitch in a World Series, tossing five scoreless innings on three days’ rest in Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park. He was lined up to start Game 7 if the Phillies had extended the series. Instead, he returned home as the second Venezuelan starter ever to win a World Series game after Freddy García with the Chicago White Sox in 2005, a distinction that elevated Suárez to rock-star status in his country.

“Everyone was very proud of me,” Suárez said. “Everyone was very happy for me. They all asked me how it felt to be in a World Series, and my answer was, ‘Obviously it was great. Very exciting. It was a dream come true.’”

The story doesn’t end there, of course. The Phillies were defeated by the Astros, and as pitchers and catchers go through their first spring-training workouts, the goal is clear: Get back to the World Series and win it this time.

First, though, Suárez will compete next month in an event that will marry baseball with the pride of representing his country. Suárez will pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, and there’s already clubhouse chatter (read: trash talk) that he could face Team USA — and Phillies teammates J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber — as soon as the quarterfinals in Miami on March 17.

It’s the closest thing that baseball has to the World Cup. So, while some pitchers chose to stay with their teams in spring training, Suárez wasn’t about to miss it.

“To me, to be able to represent my country, it means the world,” Suárez said. “It goes beyond words. You’re filled with pride when they call you and ask you if you’re interested in participating to represent your country in such a big event. Because that’s a dream of any athlete. That’s what you play for. You’re representing your country, your family, yourself.”

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Suárez’s family is back in Venezuela. His father, Ricardo, hasn’t seen him pitch in person since a Venezuelan Summer League game in 2014, so long ago that the Phillies no longer have an academy in Venezuela. Neither has his 5-year-old daughter, Sofia, nor his 2-year-old son, Dominick.

Everyone followed along in the postseason, watching games on television and staying in “constant communication,” Suárez said, with him each day. But he remains hopeful that they will someday be able to attend a game at Citizens Bank Park.

“There’s a chance,” Suárez said. “There’s a possibility. Hopefully sooner rather than later they’ll come here and join me and watch me pitch.”

Meanwhile, Suárez will reprise his role for the Phillies as a mid-rotation starter behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. After a breakthrough 2021, in which he posted a 1.36 ERA in 106 innings (40⅓ as a reliever, 65⅔ as a starter), he had a 3.65 ERA in 155⅓ innings over 29 starts last season.

But Suárez’s biggest impact came in October. In the NLCS, he won Game 3 against the San Diego Padres and recorded the save on one day’s rest in the pennant-clinching Game 5. Then, in the World Series, he picked up two outs in relief in Game 1 before coming back on short rest to win Game 3 as a starter.

Suárez spent most of Game 6 in the bullpen, just in case. But manager Rob Thomson told him before the game that the Phillies planned on having him start Game 7.

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“It was very meaningful that I had the trust of the manager to pitch in such a [significant] game,” Suárez said. “It took me a while to process all of that. When I finally went back home and sat down, relaxed a little bit, I started thinking about, ‘Wow, I actually closed out the game to advance to the World Series; I relieved a World Series game; I won a World Series game.’ It’s a big accomplishment.

“To be part of the World Series was huge, and it was beautiful. But this year, it’s not about the moment being beautiful. It’s about winning. We’re very hungry now. We want to win it all.”

For Suárez, that would be the ultimate kick.