Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 6 Power Rankings
It was a weird week at Major League Pickleball New York.
There were a handful of upsets/confusing results, and the event itself was partially overshadowed by the scary incident that resulted in Brooklyn’s Rachel Rohrabacher being struck and injured by a baseline video board that was blown over by a gust of wind (more on that incident below).
In the end, it was the New Jersey 5s winning their third consecutive event title and earning 25 standings points in the process. That moves them into first place in the Major League Pickleball standings, and also secures a playoff berth for the 5s.
St. Louis is the only other team that has mathematically clinched a playoff spot.
Despite the event win, it wasn’t a perfect weekend for New Jersey — the 5s were upset Sunday morning by the Texas Ranchers in a match that ultimately didn’t impact the Group Play standings. Even though the match didn’t keep the 5s from finishing first in their group and winning the MLP New York title, it was still a concerning loss, given that the Ranchers have been a middle-of-the-road playoff team to this point in the season (they came into the week at No. 7 in the points standings).
New Jersey bounced back quickly, though, with a win Sunday afternoon over a shorthanded Brooklyn Pickleball Team that was playing without Rohrabacher in women’s doubles (she did play mixed in Sunday’s 1 vs. 1 matchup, but given that she skipped women’s doubles, it’s likely that she still wasn’t feeling 100%).
“Our GM Ryan Harwood always says this team is a unit, and it really is,” 5s coach Leigh Waters said after Sunday’s win. “We’ve got six players and they all have a role. I’m super proud that it is always a group effort with this team and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful.”
League, Rohrabacher make statements regarding video board incident
Shortly after Thursday’s video board incident that stunned fans and quickly went viral on social media, the league made this statement:
“During today’s match between the Brooklyn Pickleball Team and Bay Area Breakers, a strong wind gust caused a baseline LED board to tip over, temporarily halting play. Thankfully, no players sustained any significant injuries. Play resumed after the board was secured, and additional precautions have been implemented for the remainder of today’s competition and the rest of the MLP New York Event. The safety of our players, fans and staff remains our top priority, and we will continue to monitor conditions throughout the event.”
According to the on-site announcers, Rohrabacher sustained a gash on her leg from the video board. Bay Area ultimately conceded the women’s doubles game that was in progress when the incident happened (Brooklyn was up 10-2 at the time), and Rohrabacher did not return to the court until Sunday’s 1 vs. 1 matchup against the 5s. Hannah Blatt filled in for the rest of Brooklyn’s matches.
Rohrabacher posted the following statement to Instagram regarding the incident:
“Hello all. Thank you for the outpouring of kindness and support following Thursday’s incident. The amount of love I’ve received has been truly overwhelming, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has checked in on me. I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who helped me during such a sudden and traumatic moment. To those who went out of their way to take care of me, to the Bay Area Breakers for their kindness and sportsmanship, and to my team for their support and care, thank you.
“I am truly fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in this sport, and I do not take that for granted. Right now, I’m taking things one step at a time and listening to my body. I am overjoyed for my team’s success and for my teammate & friend, Hannah Blatt, for stepping up incredibly in my absence.”
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Major League Pickleball New York Results
Major League Pickleball Week 6 Standings
The Kitchen’s Major League Pickleball Week 6 Power Rankings
1. New Jersey 5s ↔️
Record: 19-3
Roster: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Martin Emmrich, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson, Lina Padegimaite.
This might be a controversial stance at this point, considering New Jersey’s loss to Texas on Sunday morning. And I’ll be honest — I do not feel great about keeping the 5s at No. 1 in these here rankings. St. Louis has looked much more dominant in their past two events, and they’ve done it against stronger competition lately.
BUT, New Jersey is the only team with 3 event titles this season, they are No. 1 in the points standings (an No. 1 in points per event), and in the grand scheme of things that match against the Ranchers didn’t really matter because the Group Play standings were already determined before the match.
The men’s doubles team of Khlif/Howells continues to underperform compared to expectations (they are 13-9 this season — 59%), but it might not matter because Waters/Johnson are undefeated and are heavy favorites against anybody in the league — and Waters/Johnson also make New Jersey a threat to win both mixed matches against any team.
There’s also this: The 5s have played St. Louis twice this season. The first time they lost in a Dreambreaker, but they rebounded with a 3-0 sweep the second time around. For that reason, I’m still giving the slight edge to New Jersey.
2. St. Louis Shock ↔️
Record: 20-2
Roster: Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Hunter Johnson, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Angie Walker.
St. Louis put up arguably the most impressive week of any team to this point in the season at MLP St. Pete. The Shock went 5-0 in a very tough group that included Columbus, Palm Beach, Orlando and Texas — all likely playoff teams. They capped it off with a convincing sweep over a very good LA team in the 1 vs. 1 matchup at that event.
We’ll see them next at the Mid-Season Tournament in early July, which every team will be participating in. If the Shock win that event, they will go into the home stretch of the season as the clear favorites.
3. Los Angeles Mad Drops ↔️
Record: 15-2
Roster: Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Gabriel Joseph, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Samantha Parker.
After a stellar start to the season and a win in their first event, they have settled for second in both of their past two events. Each time they’ve been swept by St. Louis in the final, so there now seems to be a decent gap between LA and the Top 2 teams, despite the points-per-event standings being pretty close.
4. Brooklyn Pickleball Team ↔️
Record: 14-3
Roster: Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Chris Haworth, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hannah Blatt.
If you would have told Brooklyn before the week that they would be without Rohrabacher for the final three days of the event and still finish second (earning 18 standings points), I’m guessing they would have taken that.
This franchise has been cursed by injuries the past couple seasons. Last year, their season was derailed when Dekel Bar missed most of the summer with illnesses and injuries. And now this year they have gone long stretches with without either Newman or Rohrabacher.
If they can get everybody healthy, I still think they will be a very dangerous team in the playoffs.
5. Columbus Sliders ↔️
Record: 16-6
Roster: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Alexander Crum, Parris Todd, Tyra Black, Judit Castillo.
On paper, they have assembled arguably the best roster in the league — with all four starters ranked in the Top 10 in gender doubles on the PPA Tour (nobody else can say that).
But the first time we saw that lineup at MLP St. Pete, the Sliders were upset by Palm Beach and beaten handily by St. Louis in Group Play.
There are still plenty of reasons for the Sliders to be optimistic, though.
- Their last event was Black’s first event back after missing time due to an illness.
- It was the first time Black/Klinger have played together in MLP (they’ve played once before in a 2025 PPA Tour event in Australia). They went 3-2, and I would expect them to continue to improve with more time on court together.
- This is essentially the same position Columbus was in at the mid-way point of the 2025 regular season. But they were able to find a new gear in the playoffs and went on to win the title last year. I don’t think anybody would be surprised this time around if they are able to make a similar run down the stretch and be one of the last teams standing.
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6. Texas Ranchers 📈
Record: 13-10
Roster: Eric Oncins, Nico Acevedo, Rafa Hewett, Lea Jansen, Kaitlyn Christian, Layne Sleeth.
Last week’s trade for Christian paid off right away, especially in mixed doubles. Texas paired Oncins/Jansen together for the first time this year and that duo went 4-1, while Acevedo/Christian went 3-2.
The Ranchers’ only loss this week was in a Dreambreaker to the SoCal Hard Eights, and they were able to pick up very solid wins on Sunday against New Jersey and Dallas.
7. Dallas Flash ↔️
Roster: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Ivan Jakovljevic, Danni-Elle Townsend, Alix Truong, Brooke Buckner.
Record: 8-8
It’s been a turbulent few weeks for the Flash, who debuted a new women’s doubles lineup this week with Townsend/Truong.
The early results were promising, as Dallas went 4-2 this week with both of their losses coming in close Dreambreakers (23-21 to Brooklyn and 21-19 to Texas).
After the debacle at MLP Austin (the Flash went 1-4 at that event and walked away with zero standings points), it now seems like Dallas is back on the upswing. But I can’t move them any higher than 7th this week given the head-to-head loss against Texas.
8. Palm Beach Royals 📉
Record: 12-10
Roster: Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Casey Diamond, Grayson Goldin (IR), Tina Pisnik, Sofia Sewing, Tamaryn Emmrich.
Palm Beach took a step back this week, with losses to Carolina (ouch), Dallas and Brooklyn.
The Dallas and Brooklyn losses are understandable — both are going to be playoff teams, and Brooklyn could be a legit title contender — but the Carolina loss is not excusable.
On the bright side, the Royals have walked away from each of their events with at least 10 standings points, which puts them in a very good spot looking ahead to playoff seeding.
9. Orlando Squeeze ↔️
Record: 8-7
Roster: Federico Staksrud, Jack Sock, Yates Johnson, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane, Alex Walker.
Orlando had a tough week last time out at MLP St. Pete, going 2-3 and finishing fifth out of six teams in their group (earning just 1 standings point).
That result puts Orlando in a very tough spot in the points standings. With 60% of their season in the books, they have just 19 standings points and are sitting in 11th in the overall standings. I still think they will make the playoffs, but it could get dicey down the stretch because of what happened last week.
10. SoCal Hard Eights 📈
Record: 7-8
Roster: Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Rafael Lenhard, Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell, Naomi Nguyen.
After starting the season 1-4, SoCal has gone 6-4 in their last 10 matches and put together some good results this week. The Hard Eights got wins over Chicago, Texas and Las Vegas, and they are now firmly on the right side of the playoff bubble.
11. Las Vegas Night Owls 📉
Record: 6-10
Roster: Roscoe Bellamy, Clayton Powell, Braden Jacobson, Callie Smith, Chao Yi Wang, Liz Truluck.
A 1-4 record is probably not what the Night Owls had in mind this week, especially considering one of those losses was to a Florida team that came into the week ranked No. 17 in the points standings.
They are still in the playoff hunt, though, and got a key win on Friday against Chicago, which could be one of the teams they’re in a battle with down the stretch.
12. Chicago Slice 📉
Record: 5-10
Roster: John Lucian Goins, Zane Navratil, Tom Protzek, Elsie Hendershot, Jamie Wei, Jalina Ingram.
Chicago appears to be building for the future, making a trade last week to pick up Goins (18) and Hendershot (13).
In the short term, their hopes of making the playoffs this season took a big hit this week. They went 0-4 and earned just 1 standings point.
13. Utah Black Diamonds 📉
Record: 6-11
Roster: Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Tyler Loong, Allyce Jones, Etta Tuionetoa, Victoria DiMuzio.
There’s an argument to be made that the Black Diamonds should jump ahead of Chicago, given the bad week the Slice just had — but the last time Utah played Chicago they lost in regulation, so I’m not ready to make that move.
14. Atlanta Bouncers ↔️
Record: 5-11
Roster: Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Donald Young, Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian, Keilly Ulery.
The Bouncers had the week off. They’re still in the playoff hunt, but will need to post solid results from here on out to secure a spot.
15. Phoenix Flames ↔️
Record: 1-8
Roster: Jonathan Truong, Wyatt Stone, Camden Chaffin, Albie Huang, Alexa Schull, Daria Walczak.
The Flames have had a very hard 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.
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16. Miami Pickleball Club ↔️
Record: 4-11
Roster: Dylan Frazier, Yuta Funemizu, Luc Pham, Isabella Dunlap, Estee Widdershoven, Rika Fujiwara.
They went 0-5 the last time we saw them, but it’s not as bad as it looks — all of those losses were to teams I have in the Top 10 in my rankings (Palm Beach, Orlando, Columbus, Texas and St. Louis). Their playoff hopes are fading, but they’re not dead yet.
17. California Black Bears ↔️
Record: 3-7
Roster: James Delgado, Anouar Braham, Joey Wild, Sahra Dennehy, Kiora Kunimoto, Emma Nelson, Luka Mack (IR).
They had the week off, but the last time we saw the Black Bears they suffered a regulation loss to Miami, which is why I have them one spot behind MPC.
18. Florida Smash 📈
Record: 6-15
Roster: Connor Mogle, Cason Campbell, Christopher Couch, Martina Frantova, Paula Rives, Zoey Weil.
They walked away from their home event with zero standings points after going 0-4 in Group Play. They were already facing an uphill battle to make the playoffs, and this week leaves them with very little chance.
19. Bay Area Breakers 📉
Record: 4-16
Roster: Len Yang, Pablo Tellez, Blaine Hovenier, Genie Erokhina, Mya Bui, Ella Yeh.
They lost to Florida this week and beat Carolina, thus they are sandwiched between Florida and Carolina. With four events (80% of their regular season) completed, I think it’s safe to say this team isn’t making the playoffs.
20. Carolina Hogs ↔️
Record: 2-16
Roster: DJ Young, Brandon French, Michael Loyd, Nicole Conard, Aiko Yoshitomi, Abbigal Hatton.
Their win over Palm Beach on Thursday will likely go down as the biggest head-scratcher of the season. That’s their only win in their last 15 matches.
