Major League Pickleball Columbus: Match schedule, rule changes and where to watch

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Apr 30 2025

Major League Pickleball rule changes

The league announced several rule changes after the season-opening event in Orlando.

New service rule

The MLP service rules will now align with the PPA service rules for Pro and Pro Qualifier divisions. That means:

Release of the ball: Must be no higher than the top of the hip bone. The ball can travel upward after release, but only equal to one height of the ball itself.

Swing path: The swing of the paddle must be more “South to North than East to West”, meaning a clearly low to high swing of the paddle is required.

On-site alternates

Any Premier Level team that chooses not to travel their bench players and uses an on-site alternate will be penalized a point for each doubles game in which the alternate plays. That means if a Premier team has an injured men’s player and uses an on-site alternate, they will start their men’s doubles and that player’s mixed doubles game down 0-1.

Team benches

Teams will no longer be switching team benches during a match; teams will stay on their bench for the duration of their match without switching within games. The team that wins the end selection during the coin toss will have their choice of bench as well as on which end they’d like to begin the match

MLP Columbus schedule

All matches will be available on PickleballTV and the PickleballTV app. There also will be local TV broadcasts of the following matches:

Atlanta Bouncers matches on Peachtree Sports Network

Friday at 4 p.m. ET vs. Chicago Slice

Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET vs. Columbus Sliders

Carolina Hogs matches on the Palmetto Entertainment and Sports Network

Friday at 2 p.m. ET vs. Orlando Squeeze

Columbus Sliders matches on Rock Entertainment Sports Network

Saturday at 2 p.m. ET vs. St. Louis Shock

Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET vs. Atlanta Bouncers

St. Louis Shock matches on Matrix Midwest

Thursday at 4 p.m. ET vs. Atlanta Bouncers

Saturday at 2 p.m. ET vs. Columbus Sliders

Orlando Squeeze matches on FanDuel Sports Network Florida

Friday at 2 p.m. ET vs. Carolina Hogs*

Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET vs. St. Louis Shock*

* = will air on FanDuel Sports Network Sun.

Miami Pickleball Club matches on FanDuel Sports Network

Saturday at noon ET vs. Phoenix Flames

New this season, Major League Pickleball has introduced Saturday Night Pickleball and Sunday Night Pickleball, which will feature marquee matchups in prime time with teams wearing "special edition" uniforms. This week those matchups are:

Saturday Night Pickleball: St. Louis Shock vs. Orlando Squeeze, 5:30 p.m. -- Both teams got off to a strong start last week at the season-opening event in Orlando. The Squeeze finished the week 4-1 and gathered 11 points (a regulation win is worth 3 points, a Dreambreaker win is worth 2 points and a Dreambreaker loss is 1 point). But three of their wins came against teams that are likely to finish in the bottom half of the league (SoCal, Phoenix and Utah) and their other win came against a Los Angeles team that didn't have Hunter Johnson, who is one of the best players on that team. All of that is to say: We should find out in this match if the Squeeze are for real. St. Louis only played two matches in Orlando and won both, including a dramatic win over the New Jersey 5s. The Shock appear to be a title contender.

Read next: Major League Pickleball officials excited about league's momentum ahead of 2025 season

Sunday Night Pickleball: Miami Pickleball Club vs. Carolina Hogs, 4:15 p.m. -- Miami picked up two wins in Orlando, but much like the Squeeze, those wins came against suspect teams (SoCal and Utah). Carolina, meanwhile, walked away from Orlando 0-2, although both of those losses came against teams that look to be in the top 5 or better in the league (Dallas and Columbus). So the question now is whether the Hogs can take advantage of facing some weaker opponents this week.

Other intriguing matchups at MLP Columbus

Friday: Columbus Sliders vs. Orlando Squeeze, 6 p.m. -- This is another opportunity for the Squeeze to show they're for real. Columbus got off to a slow start last week, dropping matches to New Jersey and Dallas, but the Sliders were able to get back on track and finished the week 4-2. The Sliders play 6 matches again this week, so their season will be almost halfway over by the end of the weekend (each team plays 25 regular-season matches). If they have another good week, they will set themselves up nicely for playoff seeding.

Saturday: Columbus sliders vs. St. Louis Shock, 2 p.m. -- This is the best match of the weekend on paper. I have the Shock at No. 2 in my power rankings and Columbus at No. 4. Right now I think Columbus is the "best of the rest" outside of the top 3 (Dallas, St. Louis, New Jersey). But if they win this one, it might be time to start considering the Sliders as top 3 team as well.

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