Week 1 of the 2026 Major League Pickleball season wrapped up Monday afternoon in Dallas, capping off a weekend that saw 11 teams play a total of 29 matches.

The theme of the week: Parity.

For much of 2025, the “favorites” won at an extremely high rate throughout the regular season. That trend was bucked in a big way to start 2026, with several upsets and lot of very close matches.

The Los Angeles Mad Drops walked away from MLP Dallas as the biggest winner, defeating the Columbus Sliders on Monday to secure the top overall spot for the event and earn 25 standings points.

You can find the full updated standings and my Week 1 Power Rankings below, but here are my three biggest takeaways from the opening slate of matches:

1. There appear to be 5-7 really strong teams, which is great for the league

I keep coming back to the word “parity” when I think about the matches I watched this weekend.

Los Angeles, Columbus, St. Louis, New Jersey, Dallas and Orlando all had solid moments that showed good potential. Those first four teams especially could win any match against any opponent on any given day, at least the way things look right now.

Even Utah, which went 1-5 on the week, looked strong at times, especially in men’s doubles — the pairing of Connor Garnett/Tama Shimabukuro went 4-2 with impressive wins over Ben Johns/Max Freeman and Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio (who only lost one match in all of 2025).

There are also several teams who didn’t play in this week’s event who figure to be solid, such as Brooklyn, Palm Beach and Atlanta.

We could be headed for a season where it’s a very close battle between the top handful of teams, and then a secondary battle for playoff seeding that involves 10 more teams.

Overall, MLP Dallas was a very good sign for the health of the league. It doesn’t seem like any match is an “auto win” and than had me on the edge of my seat for much of the weekend.

2. The new points system made every match feel important

MLP changed the way standings points are awarded this season, and my early impressions were positive.

In each event there will be two groups, each with five or six teams. After a round-robin within each group the first few days, the top teams from each group play each other on the final day, while the lower-finishing teams play the lower teams from the opposite group.

Event standings points are awarded based on the results of the final day’s matches as follows: 1st: 25 / 2nd: 18 / 3rd: 15 / 4th: 12 / 5th: 10 / 6th: 8 / 7th: 6 / 8th: 4 / 9th & 10th: 1 / 11th: 0.

Because there’s a significant gap between 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th, that made the group play matches feel very important, especially when it came down to the last couple matches in group play.

We got a great example of that in Group B this week. St. Louis and Los Angeles were both undefeated heading into their match Sunday night, which meant the winner could potentially walk away from MLP Dallas with 25 standings points, while the loser could only get 15 standing points at best.

It created a sense of urgency from both teams, and that was arguably the best match of the weekend because of the stakes.

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3. The new line review system is a step in the right direction, but has a couple flaws

MLP debuted its new Owl AI line review system this week, and there were some positives and negatives from the roll-out.

Positives: Reviews were done quickly and both in-house and TV viewers were shown the replay animation of the call. It was an additive feature to the broadcast.

Negatives: I would have liked to have seen slow-motion replays of the call in question as well as the AI animation, in order to build trust that what my eyes see in the real world matches where the AI tech says the ball landed. It’s not like AI has never been wrong before, so I think viewers would appreciate the extra “proof” that the system is getting the calls right.

Another issue that became obvious was that teams were abusing the review process to buy an extra timeout. There were too many instances to count where teams challenged obvious calls late in games, killing the suspense and drama in the most important moments. In cases where the call is obvious and a team is clearly trying to abuse the system, I would just empower the on-court refs to immediately say “The ball was clearly out/in, let’s play on” … AND take away the team’s free line review just for trying. That should get teams to knock it off pretty quickly.

Major League Pickleball 2026 Week 1 standings

Major League Pickleball Week 1 Power Rankings

1. Los Angeles Mad Drops 📈

Record: 6-0

Doubles starters: Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto.

Bench players: Gabriel Joseph, Genie Bouchard.

Aside from the parity we saw this week, the other big storyline was Ben Johns’ performance. Many fans and pundits wondered how motivated Johns would be in MLP this season, given that he hasn’t had great results (or a great attitude) either of the past two years. We appear to have our answer to that question, as Johns took his game to what seemed like an entirely new level in mixed doubles on Sunday and Monday. He was covering 90% of the court or more at times while playing with Kawamoto, and picked up convincing wins against some very good opponents in the process (11-6 over Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin on Sunday and 11-6 over Andrei Daescu/Alix Truong on Monday).

Johns and LA newcomer Max Freeman had some ups and downs in men’s doubles, but ended up 4-2 on the week. They seemed to play better together as the week went on, getting a big win over Columbus’ Andrei Daescu/CJ Klinger on Monday, and I think they still have room to improve. Freeman was also solid in mixed with Parenteau (4-2).

If Johns continues to play at the level we saw this week, it’s going to take a very good performance to beat the Mad Drops, who are also a very strong Dreambreaker team.

2. Columbus Sliders 📈

Record: 3-2

Doubles starters: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Parris Todd, Danni-Elle Townsend.

Bench players: Alexander Crum, Alix Truong.

It was kind of a weird week for Columbus.

They lost their first match to Orlando, which was a little concerning, but then bounced back with a huge win over New Jersey and ended up winning their group. Johns and the Mad Drops were too much for the Sliders on Monday, but this is still a great start for the defending champs — especially considering they were without Parris Todd, who was suspended for the team’s first event.

Townsend, who was playing in MLP for the first time, proved that she’s the real deal, and Truong also played great all week. The performance from Columbus’ women puts the team in an interesting position from a lineup perspective. Todd has been arguably the No. 3 women’s player on the PPA Tour this year, so she will for sure be inserted into the lineup when the Sliders play next week.

Maybe they go with Todd/Truong in women’s doubles, then stick with Townsend/Klinger in mixed with Daescu/Todd as the other mixed pairing? Both Townsend and Todd seem to prefer playing the left in women’s doubles, so that would be a way to get all three players in the lineup and keep everybody happy (maybe).

3. St. Louis Shock 📉

Record: 5-1

Doubles starters: Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey. 

Bench players: John Lucian Goins, Elsie Hendershot.

The Shock were the victims of the aforementioned takeover from Ben Johns in their group play loss to LA, but bounced back with a solid win over New Jersey on Monday. Even though this team is comprised of the same four starters they’ve had the past two seasons, I think there could have been some early season rust that they needed to shake off.

We might have seen their B game, and I expect them to have a stronger showing next week at MLP Columbus.

4. New Jersey 5s 📉

Record: 3-2

Doubles starters: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson.

Bench players: Martin Emmrich, Lina Padegimaite.

A 3-2 record and 4th place in the event standings was probably not what New Jersey had in mind to start the season — especially considering all the offseason hype this team got after drafting Jorja Johnson (hype that I definitely participated in).

Somewhat surprisingly, New Jersey made the decision to switch up their mixed doubles lineup from what they deployed in the playoffs last season (when they finished runner-up to Columbus). Over the past two seasons Will Howells/Anna Leigh Waters have been the second-best mixed doubles team in the league, with a record of 54-11. But New Jersey paired Khlif with Waters and Howells with Johnson this week, and the results were so-so. Khlif/Waters went 4-1, while Howells/Johnson went 2-3.

Men’s doubles was also a struggle, as Khlif/Howells went 1-4. They seemed to improve as the weekend progressed, though, and on Sunday were very competitive with St. Louis’ elite men’s duo of Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio (Patriquin/Tardio won 11-9).

Although I’m dropping the 5s in the power rankings this week, I still think they’re a strong title contender. But they might want to find a way to upgrade their singles lineup on the women’s side — Johnson was outscored 7-1 by Anna Bright in the Dreambreaker against the Shock on Monday.

5. Brooklyn Pickleball Team 📉

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher.

Bench players: Chris Haworth, Hannah Blatt.

I initially had this team at No. 4 ahead of Columbus, but the Sliders left me no choice but to bump them up after having a great week.

Alshon, Newman and Kawamoto have been reunited from their days playing together with the D.C. Pickleball Team, which won one of the six standalone MLP events in 2023 (Jade Kawamoto was the other player on that team). Jackie Kawamoto/Rachel Rohrabacher went 19-6 in women’s doubles in the 2025 regular season, and Alshon is currently a Top 5 player in men’s doubles, mixed doubles and singles on the PPA Tour. They will be favored to win against most teams, but I don’t know if they have the extra gear it will take to beat the teams I have ahead of them.

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6. Dallas Flash 📈

Record: 3-2

Doubles starters: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Tyra Black, Brooke Buckner.

Bench players: Ivan Jakovljevic, Albie Huang.

All things considered, I think Dallas slightly exceeded expectations this week. 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 in their home event.

Their only two losses were to the defending champions (Columbus) and one of the preseason favorites to win it all (New Jersey).

7. Orlando Squeeze 📈

Record: 3-2

Doubles starters: Federico Staksrud, Jack Sock, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane.

Bench players: Yates Johnson, Alex Walker.

The Squeeze only walked away from Dallas with 6 standings points, which is pretty light for how they actually played this week.

Their only two losses were in Dreambreakers, and they had an impressive win over Columbus on Friday. They were actually in position to potentially win their group until a Dreambreaker loss to New Jersey on Sunday.

This is looking like a really solid team that can hang with the big dogs.

8. Texas Ranchers 📉

Record: 3-3

Doubles starters: Eric Oncins, Dylan Frazier, Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth.

Bench players: Matthew Barlow, Ava Cavataio.

I think the Ranchers are probably walking away from Dallas a little disappointed. When they faced the “good” teams — St. Louis, Los Angeles and Dallas — they were beaten fairly handily.

But when they played the lower-tier teams — Utah, Bay Area and Carolina — they took care of business and won comfortably.

9. Utah Black Diamonds ↔️

Record: 1-5

Doubles starters: Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Allyce Jones, Etta Tuionetoa.

Bench players: Tyler Loong, Victoria DiMuzio.

Yes, they went 1-5 this week, but four of those losses were to teams ahead of them on this list, so I think they were the victim of a very tough schedule to start the year. And in their other loss to the Bay Area Breakers, one of their starters — Tuionetoa — was out.

The biggest bright spot for this team was their men’s doubles duo. Shimabukuro/Garnett both had strong results toward the end of the PPA Tour season, and they continued that great play this week, going 3-2 against some very good men’s pairings.

On the other hand, the Black Diamonds went 0-5 in women’s doubles, so that’s gonna need to be cleaned up if they want to be a playoff team.

10. Palm Beach Royals ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Tina Pisnik, Sofia Sewing.

Bench players: Grayson Goldin, Tamaryn Emmrich.

The expansion franchise has put together a solid roster on paper in their first season, but I don’t think this team can hang with the top dogs in the league. Bar and McGuffin both missed making the PPA Tour Finals this year after being comfortably in the Top 16 in men’s doubles in prior years, and Sewing is making the jump from the APP Tour to MLP, where the competition is much stiffer.

11. Atlanta Bouncers ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian.

Bench players: Donald Young, Keilly Ulery. 

I thought long and hard about putting Atlanta as high as No. 9 in my preseason power rankings, because I think their men’s pair can be a Top 6-8 duo in the league, but I don’t know if their women can be a Top 10 duo. Irvine/Christian played in six PPA Tour events together this spring, and only made it past the Round of 16 in two of those events.

12. Las Vegas Night Owls ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Blaine Hovenier, Roscoe Bellamy, Callie Smith, Chao Yi Wang.

Bench players: Braden Jacobson, Liz Truluck.

Bellamy is coming off of a finals appearance in men’s doubles at the Atlanta Pickleball Championships, and Smith/Wang are both consistent Quarterfinal/Round of 16 players on the women’s side. I’m just not sure how high this team’s ceiling is — I think Vegas and the next three teams on this list will be battling for the final playoff spot.

13. SoCal Hard Eights ↔️

Record: 0-0

Doubles starters: Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell.

Bench players: Rafael Lenhard, Naomi Nguyen.

Bhatia has made the quarterfinals in his last two PPA Tour events, and Dizon also put up strong results in women’s doubles this spring, including a bronze with Lacy Schneemann at the Indoor National Championships in Minnesota. I think they’re a fringe playoff team this year, but if the 17-year-old MacKinnon and 15-year-old Campbell continue to improve, they could be a really solid team next year and beyond.

14. Chicago Slice ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, Mari Humberg, Jalina Ingram.

Bench players: Tom Protzek, Ting Chieh Wei.

Humberg is the only player on this team who is inside the Top 15 in any doubles division on the PPA Tour. Johnson and Navratil are both outside the Top 25 in men’s doubles, and Ingram is ranked in the 40s in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Best case scenario for this team seems like a No. 12 seed in the playoffs.

15. Phoenix Flames ↔️

Record: 0-4

Doubles starters: Jonathan Truong, Wyatt Stone/Camden Chaffin, Judit Castillo, Alexa Schull.

Bench players: Daria Walczak

The Flames were dealt a tough hand this week because they were in a group that featured Columbus, New Jersey, Dallas and Orlando — all teams I have in my Top 10.

I think they will fare a lot better when they get to play some of the lower-tier teams.

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16. Miami Pickleball Club ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Nicolas Acevedo, Yuta Funemizu, Isabella Dunlap, Estee Widdershoven

Bench players: Clayton Powell, Aiko Yoshitomi

Acevedo is an MLP newcomer, but is coming off of a Round of 16 appearance in men’s doubles at the Atlanta Pickleball Championships and also earned silver at the 500-point event held alongside the MLP Finals earlier this month (he played with Powell in that event). Funemizu has become a strong right-side player in men’s doubles, but his mixed doubles results still aren’t very good. And their women’s duo is a big question mark.

17. California Black Bears 📈

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Michael Loyd, Anouar Braham, Sahra Dennehy, Kiora Kunimoto

Bench players: Luca Mack, Emma Nelson

I’ll be interested to see what this team does from a lineup perspective. There’s not a very big gap between their projected starters and the bench players. Either way, I don’t see this team being much of a threat this season.

18. Carolina Hogs 📈

Record: 1-4

Doubles starters: DJ Young, Brandon French, Samantha Parker, Allison Phillips.

Bench players: Connor Mogle, Abbigal Hatton.

They did get a win over Bay Area at MLP Dallas, but were beaten handily in all of their other matches.

19. Bay Area Breakers 📉

Record: 1-4

Doubles starters: Len Yang, Pablo Tellez, Genie Erokhina, Mya Bui.

Bench players: Luc Pham, Ella Yeh.

Their one win in Dallas was a pretty good one — 3-1 over Utah — but they also lost 3-1 to Carolina, which is a pretty bad loss.

20. Florida Smash ↔️

Record: 0-0

Likely doubles starters: Travis Rettenmaier, Cason Campbell, Martina Frantova, Paula Rives.

Bench players: Christopher Couch, Zoey Weil.

Florida kept the same roster from a team that finished last in the Challenger Division in 2025. It’s going to be a tough road for this team.