Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 3 Power Rankings
For the second year in a row, Hayden Patriquin delivered a standout performance at St. Louis’ home event, this time leading the Shock to a perfect 5-0 record and their first event win of the 2026 Major League Pickleball season.
St. Louis, which had finished third and second in their prior two events, got in the winner’s circle on Sunday with a dominant 3-0 sweep over the Los Angeles Mad Drops, who had beaten the Shock in Group Play in their first meeting of the season at MLP Dallas.
Patriquin said St. Louis had a better game plan this time around, and “executed it perfectly” — especially in Sunday’s games against Ben Johns, who has been playing ultra aggressive so far this season in mixed doubles.
In the teams’ first meeting in Dallas, Johns/Jade Kawamoto defeated Patriquin/Anna Bright 11-6, which helped LA force a Dreambreaker that they went on to win. On Sunday in St. Louis, Patriquin/Bright were much cleaner and controlled the game by having Bright hit most of her dinks hard cross court toward Kawamoto, making Johns come all the way over to Kawamoto’s sideline if he wanted to get more involved in the point.
On the week, both Patriquin and Bright were a perfect 10-0 in their games, and the event win vaults St. Louis back into the conversation as one of the favorites to win the title this season. They had been a popular pick by many fans and pundits heading into the year, but the results in the first two MLP events of the season had raised some question marks.
“It feels really good to get that momentum going for the team,” Bright said after Sunday’s match. “We’re on an upward trajectory.”
Here’s a look at where things stand across the league after Week 3.
Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 3 standings
Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 3 Power Rankings
1. New Jersey 5s 📈
Record: 9-2
Roster: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Martin Emmrich, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson, Lina Padegimaite.
The 5s didn’t play this week, but I’m moving them back to No. 1 because of LA’s loss to the Shock on Sunday. I originally had New Jersey at No. 1 heading into the season, and I think they’ve done enough to regain that position after some ups and downs in their first two events.
The 5s have played St. Louis twice. The first time they lost in a Dreambreaker, but they rebounded with a win in regulation the second time around. Slight edge to New Jersey.
2. St. Louis Shock 📈
Record: 14-2
Roster: Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, John Lucian Goins, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Elsie Hendershot.
They underachieved slightly in their first two events, but seem to be rounding into form. They turned in a stellar performance at their home event in Week 3, and their only losses are to LA and New Jersey — both are title contenders.
3. Los Angeles Mad Drops 📉
Record: 11-1
Roster: Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Gabriel Joseph, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Samantha Parker.
I’m dropping them from No. 1 to No. 3 this week solely because of their blowout loss to St. Louis on Sunday. They were beaten 11-1, 11-3, 11-5, which is a clear step backward from what we saw in Week 1.
4. Columbus Sliders ↔️
Record: 8-3
Roster: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Alexander Crum, Parris Todd, Danni-Elle Townsend, Judit Castillo.
Columbus came out of MLP Dallas as one of the Top 2 teams, but took a step back in their home event in Week 2. We’ll get another look at them this coming week at MLP Austin, so we should learn more about which Columbus is the real Columbus very soon.
5. Brooklyn Pickleball Team ↔️
Record: 5-1
Roster: Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Chris Haworth, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hannah Blatt.
We saw Brooklyn for the first time this week, but it’s still hard to judge where they fit in the grand scheme of things because they played five of their six matches without Riley Newman, who suffered a foot injury early in the week.
Haworth played solid off the bench, with a good win Sunday in mixed doubles over Orlando’s Jack Sock/Lacy Schneemann, but I still don’t think we’ve seen the best version of this team.
PLAY WITH THE PADDLE BEN JOHNS USES
The JOOLA Pro V is one of the highest-performing paddles on the market right now.
6. Dallas Flash ↔️
Record: 3-2
Roster: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Ivan Jakovljevic, Tyra Black, Brooke Buckner, Albie Huang.
All things considered, I think Dallas slightly exceeded expectations at their home event in Week 1. Most fans and pundits were expecting a big drop off from the Flash after losing Jorja Johnson in the offseason, but they put together a pretty solid week.
Their only two losses were to the defending champions (Columbus) and one of the preseason favorites to win it all (New Jersey). They will be in action again this coming week at MLP Austin.
7. Orlando Squeeze ↔️
Record: 6-4
Roster: Federico Staksrud, Jack Sock, Yates Johnson, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane, Alex Walker.
The Squeeze continue to show they are a very solid team, with wins over playoff contenders Atlanta and Palm Beach this week, but when they play the top teams in the league they are a bit overmatched. This week they lost 4-0 to St. Louis and 3-1 to Brooklyn (without Riley Newman).
8. Texas Ranchers ↔️
Record: 3-3
Roster: Eric Oncins, Nico Acevedo, Matthew Barlow, Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth, Marcela Hones.
The Ranchers made a big roster move last week by trading Dylan Frazier + cash to Miami in exchange for Nico Acevedo.
Acevedo has looked very promising in his recent PPA Tour and MLP events, but he’s not nearly as established as Frazier. The Ranchers are clearly betting on his upside with that move, but it remains to be seen whether it will help them win now.
We will see the new-look Ranchers in action this week, as they are hosting MLP Austin.
9. Palm Beach Royals 📈
Record: 6-4
Roster: Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Grayson Goldin, Tina Pisnik, Sofia Sewing, Tamaryn Emmrich.
Palm Beach has been solid but not spectacular in the franchise’s first two events. This week they got wins over Las Vegas, Bay Area and Atlanta, but were beaten in regulation by St. Louis and Orlando. They jump from No. 10 to the No. 9 spot this week, which was previously occupied by Utah.
10. Las Vegas Night Owls 📈
Record: 5-6
Roster: Blaine Hovenier, Roscoe Bellamy, Braden Jacobson, Callie Smith, Chao Yi Wang, Liz Truluck.
They walked away from St. Louis with 8 Standings Points and now have 18 total, which puts them firmly in the playoff hunt. They might be the perfect benchmark team at No. 10 — they are 0-5 against teams ahead of them in our rankings, and 5-1 against teams below them.
11. Utah Black Diamonds 📉
Record: 4-8
Roster: Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Tyler Loong, Allyce Jones, Etta Tuionetoa, Victoria DiMuzio.
They drop from No. 9 to No. 11 this week after losses to Las Vegas, Brooklyn and Los Angeles. They’ve had a pretty tough schedule to start the season, but did take care of business against Phoenix, SoCal and Atlanta this week, which earned them 6 Standings Points that will probably come in handy at the end of the season.
12. Atlanta Bouncers ↔️
Record: 3-8
Roster: Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Donald Young, Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian, Keilly Ulery.
It was a tough week for the Bouncers, with their only win coming against the Bay Area Breakers, who are a bottom 5 team and didn’t have their best player this week (Pablo Tellez).
They lost in a Dreambreaker on Sunday to Utah, which could end up being a crucial match, as both teams figure to be battling for the last couple playoff spots at the end of the regular season.
13. SoCal Hard Eights ↔️
Record: 1-4
Roster: Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Rafael Lenhard, Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell, Naomi Nguyen.
We got our first look at SoCal this week, and they did not get off to a very strong start. Their only win was against Phoenix, and they had regulation losses to Las Vegas and Utah — that doesn’t bode well for their playoff chances.
14. Chicago Slice ↔️
Record: 3-3
Roster: Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, Tom Protzek, Mari Humberg, Jamie Wei, Jalina Ingram.
I thought the Slice were a fringe playoff team coming into the year, and that appears to be pretty spot on after one event. Their only wins were against teams likely to finish in the bottom 5 of the standings (Florida, Miami and California), and they were beaten handily by New Jersey, Columbus and Atlanta.
The Atlanta loss is particularly concerning, because if the Slice are in the hunt for one of the last playoff spots at the end of the season, the Bouncers are likely to be one of the teams they’re in a close race with.
15. Phoenix Flames ↔️
Record: 1-8
Roster: Jonathan Truong, Wyatt Stone, Camden Chaffin, Alix Truong, Alexa Schull, Daria Walczak
The Flames have had by far the hardest schedule to start the season. Their only win is against Las Vegas — in a Dreambreaker — but all of their losses have been to potential playoff teams: Dallas, Orlando, New Jersey, Columbus, SoCal, Los Angeles, Utah and Brooklyn.
Phoenix now has a break until the Mid-Season Tournament in early July.
We tested 15 of the most popular power paddles …
16. California Black Bears ↔️
Record: 1-4
Roster: James Delgado, Anouar Braham, Joey Wild, Sahra Dennehy, Kiora Kunimoto, Emma Nelson, Luka Mack (IR)
They got a win against another lower-tier team (Miami) in Columbus, but lost in regulation to the middle- and higher-tier teams they played — Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus and New Jersey.
If they were going to compete for a playoff spot this season, the Atlanta and Chicago matches would have been the time to prove it.
17. Miami Pickleball Club ↔️
Record: 1-4
Roster: Dylan Frazier, Yuta Funemizu, Clayton Powell, Isabella Dunlap, Estee Widdershoven, Rika Fujiwara.
They immediately sold their biggest asset — Nico Acevedo — as soon as somebody came calling, and now they have two right-side men’s players in Frazier and Funemizu. We will see the new lineup in action at MLP Austin this week.
18. Florida Smash ↔️
Record: 1-4
Roster: Travis Rettenmaier, Cason Campbell, Christopher Couch, Martina Frantova, Paula Rives, Zoey Weil.
They snuck out of Columbus with 4 Standings Points thanks to a Dreambreaker win over Carolina in Group Play, but were beaten handily in their other four matches.
19. Carolina Hogs ↔️
Record: 1-8
Roster: DJ Young, Brandon French, Michael Loyd, Nicole Conard, Aiko Yoshitomi, Abbigal Hatton.
They did get a win over Bay Area at MLP Dallas, but then went 0-4 at MLP Columbus.
20. Bay Area Breakers ↔️
Record: 1-8
Roster: Len Yang, Pablo Tellez, Luc Pham, Genie Erokhina, Mya Bui, Ella Yeh.
Their one win in Dallas was a pretty good one — 3-1 over Utah — but they went 0-4 in St. Louis without Pablo Tellez.
