Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 4 Power Rankings
After a slow start to the season and a fourth-place finish in their first event, the New Jersey 5s have been perfect.
They are now 12-0 in their last two events and have clawed their way back to the top of the league standings with three events (60% of their season) in the books. They got their second event title this weekend at MLP Austin, with a convincing 3-1 win on Sunday over Columbus — avenging an earlier loss to the Sliders in Week 1.
And they’ve done it all even with a men’s doubles lineup that hasn’t been great.
Will Howells/Noe Khlif are 9-8 together this season, but the 5s have been strong at every other lineup spot.
- Anna Leigh Waters/Jorja Johnson are 17-0.
- Khlif/Waters are 15-2.
- Howells/Johnson are 11-5.
Mixed doubles has been where the 5s have improved the most since MLP Dallas in Week 1 — Khlif/Waters haven’t lost since that event, and Howells/Johnson are 9-1 in their last 10 games together.
“We have an extremely supportive team,” Howells said after Sunday’s win. “It really comes down to just leaning on each and every one of us — that’s how we got it done.”
Here’s a look at where things stand across the league after Week 4:
Major League Pickleball Austin Results
Major League Pickleball Week 4 Standings
Major League Pickleball Week 4 Power Rankings
1. New Jersey 5s ↔️
Record: 15-2
Roster: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Martin Emmrich, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson, Lina Padegimaite.
New Jersey has won 12 matches in a row and now has a slight edge over St. Louis in the league standings — with both having played in three events.
The 5s have also 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 for these here rankings.
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.
They had the week off. In their last event, they suffered a blowout loss to St. Louis, which dropped the Mad Drops from No. 1 to No. 3. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see them on top at the end of the season, though.
4. Columbus Sliders ↔️
Record: 12-4
Roster: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Alexander Crum, Parris Todd, Tyra Black, Judit Castillo.
They were without Parris Todd this week in Austin — she was out with an injury, according to the league. Given that, I think the Sliders have to be pretty happy with a second-place finish this weekend and the 18 Standings Points that come with it.
But the biggest news of the week for the Sliders came after all the matches wrapped up Sunday. They traded rising women’s player Danni-Elle Townsend + cash to the Dallas Flash in exchange for Tyra Black, who is a Top 5 women’s player in the game and has had prior success in women’s doubles with Parris Todd on the PPA Tour. Find details about the trade here.
5. Brooklyn Pickleball Team ↔️
Record: 5-1
Roster: Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Chris Haworth, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hannah Blatt.
They had the week off.
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 team’s first event.
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6. Orlando Squeeze 📈
Record: 6-4
Roster: Federico Staksrud, Jack Sock, Yates Johnson, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane, Alex Walker.
They didn’t play this week, but they’ve done enough to take the No. 6 spot that was previously occupied by Dallas (more on them in a bit). The Squeeze are still a tier below the top teams, however, with recent losses to St. Louis (4-0) and Brooklyn (3-1).
7. Texas Ranchers 📈
Record: 7-5
Roster: Eric Oncins, Nico Acevedo, Matthew Barlow, Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth, Marcela Hones.
The Ranchers made a big roster move ahead of MLP Austin, trading Dylan Frazier + cash to Miami in exchange for Nico Acevedo. Acevedo made a good first impression, going 4-2 with Eric Oncins in men’s doubles and 4-2 with Lea Jansen in mixed doubles.
I’m conflicted on what to think about Ranchers at this point, though. They had a solid third-place finish this week, but it was a pretty weak field in Austin, especially considering the player absences.
Their four wins were against Florida (likely not a playoff team), Dallas (without Tyra Black), Bay Area (likely not a playoff team) and SoCal (without Armaan Bhatia) — although they would be favored against SoCal either way. Their losses were to Atlanta (who I have outside the Top 10) and New Jersey (forgivable).
The Ranchers are right back at it this coming week at MLP St. Petersburg, and they will have a much tougher slate of matches. They will play Palm Beach, St. Louis, Orlando, Miami and Columbus in Group Play — if they get through those matches with a winning record, they will likely be moving higher up my list.
8. Dallas Flash 📉
Record: 4-6
Roster: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Ivan Jakovljevic, Danni-Elle Townsend, Brooke Buckner, Albie Huang.
The Flash had a dreadful week at MLP Austin, in large part because Tyra Black was out with an illness. They went 1-4, with their only win coming against a Bay Area team that is unlikely to make the playoffs. They walked away from the event with zero standings points, which is a disaster that will have a big impact on their playoff seeding down the road — they could potentially even miss the playoffs because of this week’s results.
The tough weekend was followed up by news that the Flash had traded Black to Columbus for Danni-Elle Townsend. Townsend has had a solid debut season in MLP, but you won’t find anybody saying she’s better than Black at this point. It’s a clear indication that Dallas is looking beyond this season given the slow start. Find more details about the trade here.
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. They are in the same tough pool as Texas this coming week at MLP St. Petersburg, so we’re about to learn a lot about the Royals.
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 their last event 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’ve had a pretty tough schedule to start the season, but are in a decent spot with 10 Standings Points after two events.
They have a good opportunity this week at MLP St. Petersburg — they are in a group with Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn and Florida. If they can get wins over Chicago and Florida, the Black Diamonds will likely walk away from that event with at least 8 more Standings Points, which will come in handy at the end of the season.
12. Atlanta Bouncers ↔️
Record: 5-11
Roster: Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Donald Young, Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian, Keilly Ulery.
The Bouncers were dealt a tough hand this week. Irvine was clearly battling through an illness in very hot conditions, and Christian was out with an ankle injury.
As a result they struggled against teams they would normally be favored against, with losses to Bay Area and Florida. They did get a couple wins against Texas and Dallas, though, so I still think this is a solid team that will be in the playoff hunt at the end of the season.
13. SoCal Hard Eights ↔️
Record: 4-6
Roster: Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Rafael Lenhard, Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell, Naomi Nguyen.
The Hard Eights took advantage of a very easy slate this week, with wins over Miami, Carolina and California — all teams I have in the bottom 5 of my rankings.
They are now tied for 10th in the league standings after picking up 12 points this week, but I think a few of the teams behind them in the standings — Dallas and Utah especially — will move ahead of them by the time we get to the end of the season.
14. Chicago Slice ↔️
Record: 3-3
Roster: Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, Tom Protzek, Mari Humberg, Jamie Wei, Jalina Ingram.
The Slice had the week off, but they probably wish they had played in Austin given the strength of the field and injuries/illnesses that other teams were dealing with. Instead, they will play MLP St. Petersburg, which is a much tougher test with Los Angeles, Brooklyn and Utah in their group.
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.
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16. Miami Pickleball Club 📈
Record: 4-6
Roster: Dylan Frazier, Yuta Funemizu, Clayton Powell, Isabella Dunlap, Estee Widdershoven, Rika Fujiwara.
Frazier made his Miami debut this week, but they were without Funemizu, so it’s still tough to gauge whether they will be a legitimate playoff contender. They finished fifth in Austin and earned 10 Standings Points, which is enough to put them in a tie for 12th in the league standings, but I think it was a misleading result because they had a pretty easy slate of matches.
Their wins were over California, Carolina and Bay Area, while they lost in regulation to SoCal and Columbus.
17. California Black Bears 📉
Record: 3-7
Roster: James Delgado, Anouar Braham, Joey Wild, Sahra Dennehy, Kiora Kunimoto, Emma Nelson, Luka Mack (IR)
They got two wins against Florida and Carolina this week and walked away with 6 standings points, but neither of those matches could be classified as a quality win.
They also lost in regulation to Miami, a team the Black Bears had previously beaten 4-0. That match is the main reason I’m dropping them down a spot this week.
18. Bay Area Breakers 📈
Record: 3-12
Roster: Len Yang, Pablo Tellez, Luc Pham, Genie Erokhina, Mya Bui, Ella Yeh.
They snuck out of Austin with 8 standings points, but didn’t do a lot of heavy lifting to earn them, with their only wins coming over Florida and an Atlanta team that was dealing with multiple injuries/illnesses.
19. Florida Smash 📉
Record: 3-8
Roster: Travis Rettenmaier, Cason Campbell, Christopher Couch, Martina Frantova, Paula Rives, Zoey Weil.
They’ve earned 4 points in each event they’ve played in, which is enough to give them a fighting chance at making the playoffs, but I think as the season goes on they will settle toward the bottom of the standings. Both of their wins this week were against teams hobbled by injuries/illnesses — Dallas and Atlanta — so I’m not putting too much stock in those results.
They are hosting this week at MLP St. Petersburg and will be underdogs against all the other teams in their group — Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Utah and Chicago.
20. Carolina Hogs 📉
Record: 1-12
Roster: DJ Young, Brandon French, Michael Loyd, Nicole Conard, Aiko Yoshitomi, Abbigal Hatton.
The went 0-4 at MLP Austin and have now lost 10 matches in a row.
