The New York Patriots - A Free To Play Project

[Magus978]

There was no point in going through the other games. The outcome was already determined. We just can't compete with these super teams down in the lower tiers, and that means we're stuck in Silver after another frustrating playoff exit.

Don't have any points for any major upgrades, so we're stuck in limbo hoping we don't get off to such a bad start on Monday.

[Magus978]

It's been two seasons since we've been to the land of irrelevance...but it looks more and more like we're going back this week. The changes to the ballpark have not worked at all. Our pitching is trash and our offense still can't hit enough to overcome it and win.

The only thing left to do is wait until Monday for our 5th season at this level and play with neutral settings, because I'm completely flummoxed and out of ideas. It will at the very least tell me what I need to do to get out of this level, one way or another.

light bulb appears

Actually, I just got an idea now. It involves a carton of ice cream and a bottle of scotch. Can anyone on this team baseball properly?!?

[Magus978]

44-51. Irrelevant at the break. This time there's not going to be a massive 2nd half run in us. The changes to the ballpark have not worked. Adrian Beltre's being sold in favor of a cheaper replacement in Terry Pendleton.

Factors going back to neutral on Monday. I'm about as disenchanted with how things are going as I've ever been. Even the dark times after the promotion to Silver weren't THIS bad. I just have zero enthusiasm to login to this team and see the latest loss.

It's gotten so bad that to get my entertainment, I'm digging into the Magus vault of games. Tonight is a Diablo II night.

[Magus978]

How about a little luck for the Fatman? The Patriots have their first historical diamond, and it only took them 2+ months to get it

[Magus978]

It was a better second half, but it was not enough. New York finishes 80-82 and will be staying home on Sunday. Hey, at least we won't be swept in the divisional round. We'll save that for next week.

We're never gonna get out of silver, are we?

The ballpark factors will be changed to something akin to Shea Stadium for next season. It's a simple copypasta job from my Mets team. This alone should make for a marked improvement in our pitching staff, and that's the only way things can go, especially for the bullpen that blew 21 saves this past season.

New York will also be looking for clear improvements from Jerry Reuss (10-13, 5.07) and Joey Hamilton (9-14, 4.92), both of whom suffered massively from having to pitch in a hitter-friendly environment. They will also be eager to see what Tom Glavine (7-3, 3.63) can do in a favorable setting.

There will be one less pitcher on the squad, as the Patriots look set to part with former starting pitcher Gary Nolan, who lost his job when Tom Glavine came to the club. The team will look to sell Nolan all day Sunday, and if they are unable to find a buyer, he will remain at the club.

There are no points to be had for improvement, so once again the team will go into next season with a weakened team.

[Magus978]

Pretty good start to this week's campaign. 30-19 after 49 games, just 3 behind in the division. Gonna have to keep it up though, fortunes can change at any minute. Despite all this, the point generation just hasn't been what I'd like it to be (when is it?). Yet another factor that I cannot control, especially since we've reverted back to type by trying to single people to death while suffocating them with pitching.

Without any kind of renewed pack luck, this is what we're stuck with. Very scary thought, and not the good kind of scary. I would feel much more comfortable with where we are if we were a middle of the road offense.

[Magus978]

Remember when I said packs have been dry with no upgrades and nothing but the usual collection of smiling live stiffs?

Well, that changed late last night, as the Patriots pulled 90 OVR Bob Allison. There are some things we do like about him, but there's a few we don't. For one, we do like his ability to mash the hell out of LHP. We also like his defensive capabilities. However, we are concerned with his low-ish error rating, and his sub-optimal avoid K's ratings.

It is unclear whether or not we're going to use him or if we're going to cash in and try to get players who fit our team strategy better. We'll use today to figure it out while hoping we can continue to succeed and win all our series.

[Magus978]

We've sold 90 OVR Bob Allison, but in his place we used the points to bring in 83 Jim Gilliam!

We're so excited about his all-around defensive abilities as well as his solid all-around hitting.

[Magus978]

The New York Patriots are 52-34 and have an 8.5 game lead for a wildcard spot, and 1.5 back in the NC West division. However, management is very unhappy with several things, all of which they feel are within their control.

1. Al Dark, the player that refuses to fix himself. In 3+ seasons with the Patriots, he's hitting .253 with 36 HR and 236 RBI. These are far below the numbers we've expected since he joined the club. He has been given an ultimatum - get to .260 by season's end or be sold. Of course, there's a chance that he could be sold during the All-Star break, with Luis Castillo being brought back to fill Dark's spot at 2nd base while the team looks for a long-term replacement.

2. Jim Gilliam's bad start. While he has righted the ship a little bit in the last two games, taking his average to .263 after 76 at-bats, officials are concerned that he may not be able to hit well enough to be a key contributor anytime soon. However, the team remains happy that they signed him.

3. The Perpetually Cold Brooks Robinson. Last season was a bit of an aberration for the "Vacuum Cleaner", hitting .285 with 25 HR and 96 RBI. With a return to a more pitching-minded environment, Robinson has come down to earth badly, hitting a paltry .224 with 9 HR and 41 RBI, in line with his numbers from 2031. The team are exploring all possibilities, which include training Gilliam at 3rd base. If rumors within the organization are true, Robinson will not be a starting player for too much longer.

4. The decline of Ismael Valdez. Valdez has been a hit or miss pitcher this season, and it's mostly been miss. He's 5-5 on the season with a 4.39 ERA. Despite being on the winning end of 3 of his last 5 starts, he has been rocked in a majority of them. The team is very concerned about this and are coming to the realization that they may have to dip into the starting pitching market sooner rather than later.

[Magus978]

The team have decided not to wait and have sold Al Dark for 5,000 points at the All-Star break. They were convinced that Dark would not meet the goal set for him, and thus decided to move on. With panic starting to set in at 56-41 and a dwindling lead in the wildcard race, the Patriots have opted to change things up.

Two new players were brought in for the second half push to for the playoffs. Special Edition Nellie Fox (81) was brought in for 2,000 points. This version is weaker defensively, but has a better bat and we believe that we can get by with slightly less defensively for the time being if it means we can score another run or two per game. Fox will play primarily against righties, with Jody Reed taking over 2nd baseman duties against lefties.

The second of two acquisitions was outfielder Jack Clark (84), also for 2,000 points. Clark is a favorite among people team representatives have spoken to, and while he isn't as serviceable against righties, he absolutely mashes against the left-handed pitchers, thus making him another strong platoon guy.

With nothing left to spend on pitching, the Patriots are going to rely on the underachievers in their rotation to pick it up in the second half if they're going to be playing any meaningful October baseball.

[Magus978]

BREAKING: Amidst 8-game losing streak, Patriots set for massive sell-off as management has decided that continuing to sit on our hands while the season takes a non-stop death spiral is not something that can be done.

The only players who will be immune to this massive firesale are Jim Gilliam, Nellie Fox, and Jack Clark who were all just signed recently. Everyone else is fair game. As pieces are sold off, we will sign players to fill for the rest of the season, and then I will spend a few weeks away from PT to figure out a plan going forward, if there even is a way forward. For all I know, we may be stuck at this level forever, in which case another PT break will become a permanent one.

[Magus978]

Glavine sold, which allowed us to get a couple of new faces in, including SP Tommy John (86), RF Harry Heilmann (87), SS Luis Aparicio (66), CF Jim Piersall (80), and LF Edd Roush (80). The belief being that the defense that Aparicio brings, the power that Heilmann brings, as well as the contact ability Roush and Piersall bring, would help our offense get out of the doldrums.

Narrator: It didn't.

The death spiral continues, as we are now 65-61. The team is a mind-boggling 17-31 in the months of July & August after going 48-30 in the first three months of the season. I sincerely have no answers for this. This 2-month slump is the worst thing I've ever experienced, worse than the whole choking a 3-0 lead in the playoffs thing. The worst part is being absolutely helpless to do anything about it.

Why, oh why, does the RNG hate me so much? Once again I'll put out a call to my readers here and let's see if we can fix the New York Patriots together. If you think you've got a solution that doesn't involve telling me to shut up and accept my fate as eternal silver league gatekeeper, message me on Discord and let's go through it. (Magus978#0240)

[Magus978]

81-82. Fluked into wildcard after winning a game 163. Lost in wildcard game.

Changes are coming. 7th week of silver begins tomorrow, and if I have my way, the team will look very different.

[Magus978]

Placed in S265. Nothing else has changed. The offense still sucks and the pitching is still very mediocre. New faces, same results. 10-13 start, only 3 players actually hitting decently. It's almost like I should take a hint and stop trying. Maybe it's for the best, because this dynasty thread has become just another Magus whining post.

Too bad there's no way to delete teams after a season, because I'd like a total do-over back in the entry pool. This team is broken beyond repair and I just cannot be arsed to rack my brain to figure it out anymore. What's it getting me? Nowhere.

Once more, I'm going to ask the few readers I have left if they'd like to try and help me fix this garbage dump of a team...because I'm out of ideas and out of hope.

#FireMagus

[Magus978]

Seeing that the offense continues to not succeed, the Patriots went out and signed 84 OVR Al Kaline for 5,000 points. The points came from a double-gold live pull from a challenge mode pack.

"We have wanted to sign Al for the longest time" GM Magus wrote in a statement. "Al emphatically checks off every single box we look for in a hitter, and will transition very well defensively" Magus continued.

[Magus978]

The 2034 season resulted in an 88-74 year for the Patriots, who grabbed the 1st wildcard. They still can't figure out how to actually win a division. We'll have playoff coverage, however short it may be, in the next post (or posts).

[Magus978]

Groat, Black Bears Condemn Patriots to 8th Week of Silver Play
The New York Patriots had no answers for Dick Groat, who went 4 for 5 with 3 RBI, but the death blow tonight came from the bat of light-hitting Del Crandall, who hit a 2-run double off of Wilcy Moore to give the Shasta Black Bears the lead, and the win.

Tommy John went 6 innings for the Patriots, giving up 3 runs, but once again the bullpen implodes and dooms the Patriots to spending an 8th week at Silver.

W - Friend
L - Moore
SV - Freeman

Shasta advances

[Magus978]

Some transactions to announce...

Wilcy Moore, the man responsible for costing the Patriots the wildcard game, has been sold for 15,000 points. The points have been used irresponsibly on a strength the team already had, as the Patriots signed outfielder Richie Ashburn (80) for 7,223 points. They took the rest of the points and blew them on packs, and pulled Willie Mays (89).

As such, Jack Clark has been put up for auction. The manager now faces a headache in trying to get all his outfielders as much playing time as possible. Good headache to have though.

[Magus978]

We should bring our readers up to date with the happenings.

Currently, the Patriots have a record of 75-57 and own a 5.5 game lead in the NC West Division. We are just half a game behind the Omaha Red Hawks for the #1 seed in the conference.

Mid-season acquisition Mark Gubicza is 6-3 with a 1.90 ERA and was just named pitcher of the month for August. Al Kaline was named batter of the month for August, and for the season he's hitting .295 with 17 HR and 95 RBI.

With one more good month, the Patriots will secure their first division title since 2027. That team won promotion to Silver by making it to the conference championship.

What will Saturday bring in Patriotland? You'll just have to wait and see with the rest of us.

[Magus978]

September 28, 2035
BREAKING - With their 4-2 win at the Black Hole against the Omaha Red Hawks, the New York Patriots have clinched their first division title since 2027!