Enrique Vázquez walked slowly off the field to a standing ovation as the Stadium Urbanus fans clapped for the team’s ace. His focus stayed down at the dugout toward which he was walking, barely acknowledging the recognition. It was October 15th, and the man who would be IL Golden Arm had just induced a weak fly out from Florida’s Gordon Knopp to end the 8th inning.

A year prior, the Amsterdam Lions reached the postseason for the first time in a decade. The 2032 season was their first over .500 after 8 consecutive losing records. To be fair, the team snuck in. Their .537 winning percentage was worst of all the playoff teams and their 87 wins were among the lower end to have ever made the PEBA playoffs. Nevertheless, fans were ecstatic to be back in.

Then San Juan stomped on any hopes and dreams. The Coqui reminded Lions fans that they hadn’t been in the postseason for ages and they didn’t know a thing about competing in October. Amsterdam won just one game. Starting pitcher Eric Elliott, who had been a great pickup on a one year deal, got hurt in September and couldn’t pitch. Iwao Maruyama pitched well but the bullpen got the win. Only playoff veteran John Turner managed a victory.

So when the team signed Old Nick to a record contract after that playoff exit, it was for moments like October 15th. Vázquez’s regular season track record is impeccable. He’d won 5 of the last 6 IL Golden Arm awards when the Lions signed him. His 2033 regular season was dominant once again. But thing aren’t always as straightforward as all that.

Despite all that regular season success, Vázquez became known as a perennial playoff choker. During the course of his 7 seasons with Havana, he helped the team reach the postseason all 7 seasons, but the team couldn’t win anything. And Vázquez wasn’t helping. Sure, he’d win a game here and there, but overall he had a 4-10 record with a 4.18 ERA. Those numbers were nothing like his regular season, and while that’s not uncommon against the tougher competition of the playoffs, you’d expect a guy with his reputation to not falter. The trust wore so thin that the team infamously bypassed him in Game 7.

So when his contract had a year remaining, the Havana sent him to West Virginia in a straight up swap for Manuel Gonzáles.
The Alleghenies, already a powerhouse team, cruised to 117 wins and lost only one game against IL opponents before beating Neo Tokyo 4-2 for the PEBA championship. Vázquez was 2-0 in 5 starts with a 3.86 ERA, which wasn’t great but certainly better than for Havana. The questions remained, though… was he a big game pitcher? Could he actually beat good teams or were his regular season numbers built on feasting against weaker opposition? Maybe he’d earned his title because the Alleghenies were just so good to begin with.

With Amsterdam, well, now Old Nick would have a chance to prove that he could take a team on his back. One that wasn’t West Virginia with their relentless offense. One that wasn’t Florida and their domination generation. How would he hold up with all that weight on his shoulders?

Vázquez started game one of the Wild Card series in San Juan, and despite being spotted a 2-run lead before he took the mound, he promptly gave one back in the bottom of the first. However, he settled down from there, allowing another run in the 6th before giving way to the bullpen. By this time, Amsterdam had a 9-2 lead and things looked well in hand. Ultimately, the team won 11-6.

The Lions took the first two games in San Juan before getting swept at home in Amsterdam. That left game 5, winner-take-all on the road again. Vázquez was called upon to save Amsterdam’s season and get them past the very team that booted them the previous year. It was the very type of game that he had failed in to the point of Havana losing trust in him. The very stage on which his reputation rested.

The Lions scored first, in fact it was in the top of the first, and while there were questions before the game, the questions that weighed heavily on the minds of everyone watching were dispatched as easily as Old Nick mowed through the Coqui. He got through he first on 7 pitches, including a pair of weak grounders to short, and while he did give up a solo home run, it was one of just 3 hits he would allow. Ultimately, he went 8 innings and as the Amsterdam offense gradually picked up a run here and there, the outcome gradually became inevitable. Vázquez was not going to lose this game.

And so it came to October 15th. Having started game 5 of the Wild Card series, it was until game 3 of the division series that Vázquez would get his shot at the Farstriders. Florida, the team that had arrived not just as a dominating force this year, but one that looks like it’ll be that team for a decade or more, would be the ultimate test of Vázquez’s new determination to rewrite his reputation.

Florida had already won the first two games in the series. With slugger Dave Petersen out and starter Iwao Maruyama leaving to injury after only pitching an inning in the series, there wasn’t much hope for Amsterdam to advance to the next round. Vázquez, though, still had something to prove. That takes us back to his ovation at the end of the 8th inning. Once again, he had gone 8 innings. This time, against the best team the IL could throw at him.. A solo home run was the only blemish on the scoreboard, and Lions had a tenuous 2-1 lead. Everyone knew it was time for Kelsey Buck to come in and try to save it in the 9th, but they also knew that they’d seen the greatest pitcher of his generation prove he could do it on the big stage, too.