While baseball fans around the world await Carlos Correa signing with the Mets to be made official, the NHL, NBA, and NFL in full force, every New York sports team is in contention for the playoffs. Simultaneously, the Mets and Yankees are at the forefront of MLB’s free agency making the necessary changes to their roster. As the New Year dawns each team is making the necessary acquisitions to make themselves champions. Here are resolutions for each New York sports team in order to contend for a championship.

Giants 

The Giants started to come back down to earth in the middle of the season following an astounding 6-1 record. They went on to only win two of their next eight games. Luckily, they were still able to hold onto a ticket to the playoffs and clinched their first appearance in the postseason on New Year’s Day against the Colts. This was the first time the Giants will be heading to the playoffs since 2016. The G-Men have struggled all year in passing and rank 26th in the NFL in passing yards per game. The Giants will also need to make the decision if they want to keep, or move on from quarterback Daniel Jones whose rookie contract will end after this season. Their resolution should also be to make it past the first round of the playoffs by winning an away game against one of the NFL’s best. This can get them back to prevalence and will finally be taken more seriously in the NFC.

Jets

The Jets surprising season will soon be coming to a close, and sadly for Jets fans, it will be a pretty disappointing one. The Jets are sitting at a 7-9 record, are on a five game losing streak, and are on the verge of giving up on last year’s second overall pick, quarterback Zach Wilson. Head coach Robert Saleh made the decision a few weeks ago to start longtime backup, Mike White, under center after it was pretty clear Wilson may not be the future of the franchise. White has had much more success than Wilson but the offense is still lacking some explosiveness and consistency. After White’s injury, Wilson stepped back into the starting role before struggling mightily and being benched for a second time. Early in the year it looked possible that the Jets may be able to snap the NFL’s longest postseason drought but the lack of consistent quarterback play led to a mid-season collapse. The Jets resolution should be to find a true franchise quarterback, to take them back to the promised land, for the first time since the 2010 season. This should come by way of a trade for Derek Carr or free agency where the Jets can try and pick up Lamar Jackson or Jimmy Garoppolo, as their first round draft pick may be too low to get one of the premier quarterback prospects.

Mets

The Mets went holiday shopping earlier this offseason and found some good deals. After losing one of this generation’s best pitchers, Jacob DeGrom, to the Texas Rangers, the Mets signed Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, David Robertson, Brooks Raley, Brandon Nimmo, and Kodai Senga. The team also signed back reliever Adam Ottavino before agreeing to a deal with superstar Carlos Correa. However, Correa and the Mets haven’t made the signing official over concerns with his physical. Despite an exciting start to the offseason, the Mets have stressed their offseason isn’t done. Mets fans have been spoiled with free agents to start the offseason, and hope to fill out the rest of the depth and bullpen in the new year. Their resolution should be to fill out the bullpen, add a fourth outfielder before spring training, move Darin Ruf, and make the Correa signing official.

Yankees

The Yankees began the offseason by re-signing veteran Anthony Rizzo and losing starting pitcher Jameson Tallion to free agency. However, the San Francisco Giants nearly played Grinch on the Yanks during free agency. The Giants, Yankees, and Padres spent the start of the offseason in a bidding war for MVP Aaron Judge. At one point, it was reported that Judge was signing with the Giants until that was proven false when he signed with the Yankees the next morning. The Giants were also among teams bidding on the Yankees pitching target in free agency, Carlos Rodon—who they added to a stacked rotation on December 16. To start the New Year off on the right foot, the Yanks should get rid of Josh Donaldson, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, and sign another outfielder after Andrew Benintendi signed with the White Sox. 

Rangers

Almost three months into the season, New York Rangers owner James Dolan, began holding head coach Gerard Gallant accountable for the team’s failures. Although the team’s inconsistency is the main reason for their terrible record early this season, too often this year Gallant has not been open to change. That all shifted when captain Jacob Trouba threw his helmet and yelled at teammates after giving up a 3-0 lead to the Chicago Blackhawks. Trouba’s frustration motivated his teammates and the Rangers returned with a seven-game win streak. Along with the team’s sudden momentum, Gallant began to show some flexibility in the lineups, starting more of the younger players and preferred fan-picked lineups. Why did coach Gallant keep the lineups the same even as they were struggling? Although that question remains unanswered, the majority of fans are happy with the changes being made to the team. Going into the new year, the Rangers resolution should be to strive to keep their newly recovered energy and continue the lineups that have worked for them in the past. 

Islanders

After the Islanders finished fifth in the Metropolitan division at the end of the last season, they returned for the new season with mixed expectations. The Isles have often lost against teams they are more probable to win against, and won against teams holding higher stats. On December 9, they beat the New Jersey Devils, a team standing at 24-11-3 and currently second in the Metropolitan division. However, they lost to the St. Louis blues on December 6, a team that is 18-17-3. The team as a whole has expectations that fans want to be lived up to, coming together as a team and breaking the inconsistency could be the answer to the teams struggling start of the season. Continuing their season in 2023, predictions are hard to foresee because of prior games, as well as last year’s season. The Islanders resolution should focus around players’ individual development in their play that will help pull together a consistent streak for the team, as well as setting and reaching new expectations.

Knicks

The Knickerbockers have been killing it lately, recently coming off an eight-game win streak. BUT, there still are some holes in the lineup (by holes, I mean RJ Barrett). One of the worst starting forwards in the league, he gets the most minutes on the roster, which is absolutely ridiculous. Coach Tom Thibodeau not playing Barrett correctly, treating him as a top and reliable scoring option—which he has proved he cannot handle. Barrett just does not work well with our all-stars Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle. What comes first is dropping his minutes, giving more time for Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickley, and especially Cam Reddish (who has gotten ZERO minutes in the last ten games). It would also be great to stop seeing Julius Randle run the offense. As a first-scoring option, he has been pretty shaky and unreliable.All of these problems point directly to Thibs, and a resolution is for him to get the boot from coaching. Another huge action from the Knicks that could make us a contending team is acquiring that one star that can do it all—and they have the perfect opportunity right now. Currently, Zach Lavine is trying to find a way out of Chicago, and if the Knicks acquire him—possibly through a trade involving Barrett—we can elevate to that status. 

Nets 

Do the Nets even have fans? That should be the first resolution, attracting more fans. Everyone is on the Knicks train right now, and with Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons, they are just a pretty unlikeable team. But real talk, Brooklyn is still a move or two from competing with the top teams in the Eastern Conference. With threats like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Khris Middleton, the Nets need a reliable perimeter defender as Ben Simmons plays down low at the 4. Most importantly, they need depth for the big man spot. Sophomore Nic Claxton is the only reliable option in the paint, and when he is not on the court, the team is just too small to compete. Overall, the front office in Brooklyn must start thinking about the defense if they want to bring the NBA Championship home in June. As a resolution, the Nets must start running up some trades for a big man and a perimeter defender. Here is the layout, Mr. Sean Marks, the new GM: the Knicks are thinking about trading 7-footer Isiah Hartenstein and he is barely getting minutes; acquire him and throw the Knicks a draft pick. In the same deal, they should acquire Derrick Rose, who is also up in the air for the Knicks right now, and is a great perimeter defender who will fit right in with the other veterans on the lineup like KD and Kyrie.