Boston Patriots

The Boston Patriots are a Premier League team that resides in Boston, MA. They are headed by GM Tyler Carter. The owner is Tom Mattison. They are one of the original 10 teams and one of the original 8 that have not moved or changed the name of their team, and they still have their original GM and have always resided in the Premier League. Their first pick which was the last pick of the 1st round (10th) in the inaugural draft was CF Michael Greene, followed by their 2nd pick which was the first pick of the 2nd round (11th) which was LF Manuel Villarreal. The Patriots won the 2015 USBA Grand Championship after a 74-34 first place finish in the regular season. They won it again in the 2020 season after an 81-27 finish. The Patriots also held the PL season wins record with 76 when they finished first in 2016, but have since been replaced by Brooklyn's 82 in 2019. Boston had also won the Presidents' Shield three seasons straight from 2015-2017, and four straight times from 2020-2023.

2013
The Boston Patriots inaugural season was their worst one to date. Despite being picked to come in 2nd by the other GM's of the Premier League they finished in 9th place with a 45-63 record. Fortunately for the Patriots, relegation was not possible for the first season so being terrible did not mean a demotion. Going into the inaugural draft GM Tyler Carter decided to go for a young team that might not necessarily contend in the Premier League's first season. This was certainly the case as the 2013 Patriots struggled mightily. The injuries to expected ace SP Edgardo Marin and top pick CF Michael Greene only exasperated the situation.

2014
The 2014 season was considered an epic turnaround from the disaster's of the teams first season. Following the disappointing yet not unexpected results of the 2013 campaign, GM Tyler Carter decided changes needed to be made. Carter managed to swing a deal for then-closer Edwin Ellis who was a Phoenix Hotspur at the time. In exchange the Patriots traded their 2013 top pitcher Peter Rivers. Ellis was considered an expensive reliever at the time until being converted into a starter during the '13-'14 offseason. The 2013 offseason also saw the Patriots acquire some much needed offense in the form of LF George Valentine. Valentine ended up being an extremely valuable commodity as he lead the 2014 Patriots in just about every major offensive category. In the 2014 amatuer draft the Patriots selected OF Armando Esparza with the 2nd pick. About a week and a half into the 2014 season the Patriots also signed C Ben Ross to a 3 year deal. The Patriots immediately looked to be improved from the 2013 version of their team. They got off to a solid start which continued throughout the season. Before the trade deadline GM Tyler Carter swung a trade with Silver League bound Detroit for CL Erik Davis. Immediately following the trade Davis was converted to be a starter. He became the #2 man and was excellent for the Patriots, going 8-3 with a 2.89 ERA. Going into the final months of the season it looked as if it would be a 3 team race for the final 2 spots in the playoffs with Lexingtoncontrolling the top seed. Contending for the playoffs were the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Patriots, and the Atlanta Smoke. The Patriots however finished the season on a blistering 24-4 pace to clinch the #2 seed and home field in the first round of the playoffs. The other team to make the playoffs was the Atlanta Smoke, following a disappointing end to the season for Brooklyn.

2015
The Patriots began the '14-'15 offseason by picking SS Bill Chambers with the 19th pick of the amatuer draft. During free agency the Patriots didn't have much luck with the bigger name free agents, and instead had to settle on CL Richard Davis, a past-his-prime former stud who could still deal and filled a huge gap for the Patriots. Going into the season the Patriots attempted to make a deal with several other ball clubs to acquire more offense, but no other team seemed wiling to move their players. Thus the Patriots had to win with what they already had. Boston started out the season on a strong start, going 23-8 in May and part of June. The Patriots remained in first place for much of the season, although periodically throughout the season other clubs would also be in contention for first. At first it was Grafton, then it was Phoenix, then Lexington, and then Brooklyn all pushing the Patriots for first in the standings. But while each other team rose and fell, the Patriots stayed atop the PL the whole season. About midway through the season 1st round pick SS Bill Chambers was called up. The rookie played well enough to stick in the lineup and batted leadoff for parts of the season as well. Fellow rookie LF Esteban Marquez was called up a few games before Chambers and immediately lit a fire under the Patriots offense. He spent most of the season batting 2nd in the order and became a valuable addition to a struggling offense. About a week before the season ended Boston secured the first seed in the playoffs and thus a first round bye, though at a cost. With just 6 games remaining Patriots ace SP Edwin Ellis went down with a torn meniscus, and was told he would miss the rest of the season and the postseason. The Patriots finished with a record 74 wins to claim the President's Shield and a 1st round bye heading into the playoffs. At the end of the season Ellis was voted as the winner of the 2015 PL Golden Arm Award.

2016
Boston went into the 15'-16' offseason with one thing in mind: repeating. Something that has never happened before in the USBA is a champion repeating as champion the following season. Boston knew it had the opportunity to do this when it went into the offseason. George Valentine, who was as consistent a hitter there ever was, was not resigned. Boston wanted to get younger and faster. To do this they decided to make some major changes to the roster in order to keep up in the ultra competitive Premier League. The first thing GM Carter did was trade for Atlanta pitcher Jose Hernandez. Jose had been on the Smoke his whole career, but the team decided to part ways with him in order to get younger. Along with Jose came his teammate Roy Robinson. Considered one of if not the best closers in the game, Robinson also came at a lower price than the incumbent closer Richard Davis, who was briefly sent to Atlanta before being shipped off to Phoenix. C Ben Ross was also shipped off to Phoenix along with a couple prospects for Phoenix's 1st round pick in the 2016 Amatuer Draft. During Free Agency the Patriots added LF Robbie Roach, MR Dani Hernandez, MR John Dodson, C Ivan Perez, and 2B Frank Wentworth, along with a slew of role players and PL fringe players who would start in AAA. A mid-season acquisition of Nebraska SP Kyle Lewis to fill in for the injured Hernandez and Ellis proved that Lewis was not yet ready for the PL, as Nebraska was an SL team at the time. The season started off strong, going 15-8 in May and leading the PL in most categories. The Patriots were easily the most consistent team, having at least a .652 winning percentage in each month. Boston finished with a 76-32 record, breaking their 2015 PL record 74 wins. As the Patriots were in 1st place for almost the entire season, there was a lack of drama compared to the 2015 season. Still, injuries hurt the Patriots. Edwin Ellis, Manuel Villarreal, Robbie Roach, Ivan Perez and Frank Wentworth all missed significant amounts of time on the DL. Despite this, Boston still finished 2nd in the league in Runs Scored and 1st in Runs Against. They led the league in run differential and clinched their second straight President's Shield and first round bye in the playoffs. At the end of the season a USBA-high 4 Patriots were voted to the two All-Pro teams, including three 1st-teamers. CF Michael Greene won the 2016 MVP award, making him the first Patriot to do so.

2017
The 2016-17 offseason saw Boston mostly sit tight with the same team that had won the Presidents' Shield 2 seasons straight. During the offseason few free agents were added, and thus Boston only added a few bench players. Former Reaper C Gil Jenkins and former Lexington 1B Lockwood Rose were acquired to be the top pinch hitters. Former Chicago Gold Sox stud Pedro Martinez was also acquired to be the 5th starter. Beyond that Boston did not make any major splashes in the offseason. Boston did also acquire 2B Nathan Horton from Grafton for MR Erik Davis, MR Mark Simmons and C Nam-Sup Yi. The season did not start off well for the Patriots. Of the first 6 series of the season, Boston only won 1 of them. After a dismal 10-13 start to the season, Patriots GM contacted other GM's on the possibility of a trade. Eventually an agreement with Grafton was reached to send star 1B Chad Armstrong and throw-in SS Rudy Jedburgh to Boston in exchange for 1B Donald Thompson, MR Bill Ball, OF Raul Robles, and AA SS Anthony Johnston. After the trade, Boston improved, although not overnight. Unfortunately at the end of May ace Jose Hernandez went down for 6 weeks, which created a whole in the rotation. Still, the Patriots went 13-9 in June. As the season progressed the Patriots found consistency. Each of the last 3 months of the season Boston went an impressive 16-5. After being down by as many as 10 games by the end of June, Boston finally claimed first place on September 17th. In a single week that spanned from September 15th to September 22nd, Boston went from 1 game out of first place to 6 games up on 2nd place Grafton. The Patriots had completed the most improbable and historic full-season turnaround in PL history. Unfortunately, the Patriots were awash with injuries and had former role players starting all over the place. In July they lost CF Michael Greene for 8 weeks. Then in August shortly after being recalled from AAA and showing signs of improvement, SP Kyle Lewis was lost for the season. Finally in the last month of the season when Boston was still trying to make the playoffs, MVP favorite RF Manuel Villarreal was injured for all of September and the playoffs. Still, Boston finished the regular season 1st in runs scored and runs allowed. Despite leading the PL in injuries by a large margin and finishing a whopping -6 in pyt, the Patriots clinched their third straight Presidents' Shield on September 22nd and finished with a 71-37 record en route to a first round bye in the playoffs.

2018
The 17-18 offseason was one of the biggest ones for Boston in recent history. In February, Boston completed a trade for one of the top young OF's in the league in CF Tommy Jones, sending C Ivan Perez, 1B Chris Nelson, and LF prospect Cris Lopez. In another massive trade that unanimously angered rival PL managers, Patriots GM Tyler Carter acquired the top pick of the 2018 draft in utility batter Wilfred "Swampy" McLaughlin for SP Chuck Steele, LF Robbie Roach, and CF Juan Valdez. Along with drafting future stud C Scotty Anderson, Boston somehow made off with the top 2 picks of the 2018 amatuer draft. Another smaller acquisition was trading for 3B Bob Campbell IF Frank Wentworth and OF prospect Ernie Zambrano. The Patriots also made a straight up trade with California, exchanging 2B Nathan Horton for 2B Bob Heller. The 2018 season started off like any normal Patriots season. First ace Jose Hernandez went down for the season, followed shortly by former ace Edwin Ellis. While the Patriots finally showed a willingness to hit with RISP, the effects were effectively negated by the teams inability to find a 4th SP. The 3 man rotation of Kyle Lewis, Cris Mendoza and Jesus Caldero was excellent, but the 4th starter was as close to a sure fire loss as you could get. Combined with having the worst pyt (for the 3rd straight year) and even more injuries later in the season, the Patriots managed just a 2nd place finish in the PL despite a pyt of 3 games better than the 1st place team. SP Kyle Lewis finished the 2018 campaign as the best pitcher in baseball, and was thusly awarded the 2018 Golden Ball Award.

2019
The 2018-2019 offseason was an interesting one for the Boston faithful, as they had the #4 overall pick in the draft which they acquired from the Chicago Hawks. With that pick they selected SP Lynwood Matos, who would prove to be an important asset later on. They also made another smaller trade for 3B Leonard O'Connor with Louisville. The season started well for the Patriots despite the loss of Tommy Jones for almost half the season on the 1st day of the season, as they went 32-13 in June & July. Then everything that could've gone wrong for the Patriots went wrong. The pitching came to a halt, and close loss after close loss derailed the Patriots season. Even a mid-season acquisition of SP Tom Reynolds from Wizarding did nothing to curb the starting pitching woes. Luckily SP Kyle Lewis followed his 2018 Golden Ball season with an even more impressive 2019 season. Swampy, who after an excellent 2018 campaign looked to be a young star on the rise, finished the season with a measly .637 OPS, although he was a defensive stud and still managed to produce 1 WAR despite his pathetic offensive numbers. Boston finished with its worst record since 2013, as it ended with a 66-42 record that not even the return of the dynamic Tommy Jones could fix.

2020
After yet another loss in the PLGC and a 1-5 record in the PLGC overall, Pats GM Tyler Carter decided something drastic needed to happen to get over the "Brooklyn" hump. In a move that angered all rival PL GM's, the Patriots redefined the term "Blockbuster Deal" when they swung a trade with the Grafton Middies that sent star pitchers SP Lucio Sanchez, SP Jorge Aguirre, and SP Yuri Volkers to Boston in exchange for OF Jose Alvarez, RP Edgardo Marin, C Scotty Anderson, SP Lynwood Matos, SS Jorge Lopez, a 2020 2nd rounder and a 2021 1st rounder. To say that the rest of the league was upset would've been an understatement. Salt spilled from the mouth of all 8 PL GM's not involved in the deal, and the league board convened to try to find a way to keep the Patriots from becoming the top team in the league for years to come. When inevitably no fair solution was found, Boston went into the 2020 season looking prime for a shot at redemption. What followed would be the season that defined the legacy of GM Tyler Carter. Not only did the Patriots win 82 games (2nd most all time) but they also won the Cup for a 2nd time and the USBA Grand Championship. Newly acquired SP Jorge Aguirre had the most legendary season in USBA history, finishing a perfect 20-0 with a 1.11 ERA and 221 K's in 170 IP.The 2020 season saw the Boston Patriots reap every award in the USBA, meaning the Triple had been won by Boston for the first time.

2013 - (45-63, 9th) No playoffs. No USBA Cup.

2014 - (70-38, 2nd) The Patriots took out the Atlanta Smoke in 3 games in the first series, but were promptly swept in the Finals by hated rival Lexington BC (Formerly known as the Cleveland Steamers). The Patriots defeated the Grafton Middies to win the inaugural 2014 USBA Cup.

2015 - (74-34, 1st) The Patriots received a first round bye. In the Finals they played the Lexington BC for the 2nd straight season. This time the Patriots were the victors after a 4-1 series win. This continues the trend of the President's Shield winner winning the Grand Championship which has happened every year of the USBA's existence. The Patriots were defeated by the Grafton Middies who were the eventual winners of the 2015 USBA Cup in the quarterfinals.

2016 - (76-32, 1st) Boston again claimed a first round bye in the playoffs. In the Finals against Louisville the Patriots struggled against the inferior Slugs. The offense was completely shut down, making losing Manuel Villarreal for the playoffs an extremely costly injury.The Patriots were swept by the Thunder Bay Lumberjacks in the second round of the USBA Cup, making it the second straight season they performed at a lower level than the year before.

2017 - (71-37, 1st) The Patriots made the playoffs for the fourth straight season and received a first round bye for the third straight time. Although afflicted with a myriad of injuries, Boston went into the top of the 8th tied 5-5. Brooklyn had a 3-2 series advantage, but stud Jose Hernandez would pitch game 7 in Boston if the Patriots could hold on in game 6. An Austin Henderson solo home run to lead off the inning gave the Patriots a 1 run advantage, and a Villarreal rbi single later in the inning gave the Pats a 2 run lead going into the bottom of the 8th. Not wanting to take any chances, Patriots manager Jose Feliciano brought in star closer Roy Robinson who was 9-0 on the season and was 2-2 in save opportunities in the playoffs so far. Roy Rob allowed a leadoff double but struck out the next 2 batters. It looked like a foregone conclusion. The next 5 batters all reached base via a base hit, and just as it seemed Boston would make as improbable a comeback in the playoffs as they did in the regular season, it was not meant to be.

2018 - (75-33, 2nd) As usual the Patriots were upset by a terrible team in the Cup. As bad luck as they had the Patriots still managed a 2nd place finish in the PL just a game behind their record setting 2016 pace, which would lead to a show down between the Patriots and California Oceanliners. The Patriots took down California in the playoffs 2-1 en route to a rematch from last year's PLGC against Brooklyn. No one played amazingly in the playoffs, but Boston found itself tied 3-3 going into the pivotal game 7. Despite a valiant effort, the Pats lost a hard-luck 1-0 game to seal it's 3rd straight PLGC loss.

2019 - (66-42, 23rd) The Patriots won their group as usual, but then somehow made it past the 2nd round of the Cup, upsetting New Amsterdam 2 games to none. There they faced Brooklyn which came down to a game 3 that the Patriots lost. Going into the PL playoffs, the tables looked to have turned on the Patriots, as this time the Oceanliners had home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Boston needed just 3 games to take out the Oceanliners, as they made a clean sweep of California en route to facing the hated Brooklyn Dodgers in the PLGC once again. The Patriots took an early 2-1 lead in the series, but then lost the next 3 games, and the PLGC, for the 4th consecutive season.

2020 - (82-27, 1st) Boston stampeded through the Cup, and won it for the 2nd time in franchise history. Then facing the rival Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston finally got past them in a one-time 9 game PLGC, which Boston won 5 games to 3.

2021 - (78-30, 1st) Again Boston faced Chicago, but the result was different. Chicago took revenge in the Cup, sweeping Boston in the semi-finals before going on to sweep Richardson City in the Finals. 2021 was the last season before the introduction of the Tournament of Champions. This time 4 teams made the playoffs, so Boston despite winning the Shield, did not have a first round bye. They faced the Buckhead Bowties in the first round, which they promptly swept. Brooklyn also swept Richardson City in the first round so for the 4th straight year the Finals would come down to Brooklyn v. Boston. It took 6 games, but Brooklyn prevailed for the 3rd time over the Patriots in the Finals. It would be the last thing Brooklyn ever won for a long time.

2022 - (77-31, 1st) The Patriots swept an ML team in the first round, but were defeated in a game 3 against the Buckhead Bowties in the 2nd round. Buckhead would go on to lose in 3 games in the Final Round to the Houston 1837. In the first ToC ever, Boston found itself facing Atlanta in the 2nd round. They were no match for the Patriots as they were quickly disposed of in 4 games. But in the Final round against new PL upstart Richardson City, Boston was defeated 2 games to 4. It was RC's first piece of hardware in its team's existence.

2023 - (75-33, 1st) Boston had the formula for playoff money success, as they went to 3 games in each of the first 3 rounds of the Cup, and were victorious in all of them. While not a way to unstressfully make the Finals of the Cup, Boston was there nevertheless, and had made the most money possible on the way. Facing Panama City from the SL, Boston made a clean sweep of them to bring the Cup back to Boston for the third time. In the 2nd iteration of the ToC, Boston found itself facing the team that defeated them in the Finals last season. Richardson City won the first 2 games of the 2nd round, before Boston stormed back to take 3 in a row and move on to face Chicago in the Finals. The series was tied 1-1 after two games, but Chicago took the next 3 and won the final game on a walkoff home run by the former first pick of the inaugural draft by Boston, OF Michael Greene.