ARLINGTON, Texas — An inning before he took the mound to make his first pitch in a World Series, Ryan Sherriff stood in the bullpen holding a “Stand Up To Cancer” sign, an annual moment at the Fall Classic, and on it he had written: “My Dad RIP.”
When he made his major-league debut with three scoreless innings for the Cardinals more than three years ago, Sherriff walked off the field and pointed to the sky as a tribute to his late father, Larry, who died of multiple myeloma. This time, he jogged to the mound for the Tampa Rays with that same inspiration as a tailwind.