There have been thrilling upsets, dominating performances, sideline drama, surprising trades, disastrous decisions and plenty more interesting developments over the past four months.

It's all been leading to this weekend: The Major League Pickleball Finals in New York City's Central Park.

The action starts Friday with Premier Level semifinal matches, followed by the Challenger Level finals and Premier Level finals later in the weekend.

We dive into all the matchups below, including an in-depth look at how the gender doubles and mixed doubles lineups stack up, and who might have an edge in Dreambreaker scenarios.

Let's cook!

Major League Pickleball Finals match schedule

Multiple matches will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, as well as a CBS national broadcast on Saturday afternoon. There also are some matches available on MSG Network and Tennis Channel, in addition to Pickleballtv and the Pickleballtv App.

Major League Pickleball Premier Level semifinals

No. 1 St. Louis Shock vs. No. 5 Columbus Sliders

How they got here: St. Louis took care of business in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 sweep of Orlando, while Columbus pulled off an upset over the No. 2 seed Dallas Flash.

Season series: St. Louis won both meetings in the regular season, winning 4-0 on May 3 and 3-1 on July 18. In the first meeting, CJ Klinger was out with an illness for Columbus.

Women's doubles: Anna Bright/Kate Fahey (St. Louis) and Lea Jansen/Parris Todd (Columbus) split the season series, with the St. Louis duo winning the first matchup 11-8 and Columbus winning the second matchup 11-3. There's been a narrative around Columbus that their women's team played better in the second half of the year, but the stats don't really back that up. Jansen/Todd were 10-5 in April-May-June, and 10-6 in July and August (20-11 overall). St. Louis was a little bit better with a 24-7 record. You could maybe say St. Louis has a slight edge based on the overall body of work, but this matchup seems like a tossup to me.

Men's doubles: St. Louis' men's duo of Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio were easily the best men's doubles pairing in the league this season with a 29-2 record overall. Columbus' Andrei Daescu/CJ Klinger -- both top 10 players on the PPA Tour -- underperformed slightly in the regular season, going 16-8 (66.67%) together. But they are still a dangerous pair if they both play well, as they showed by winning all three of their games in the playoff series against Dallas. These teams only played each other once this season when all four players were healthy, with St. Louis winning that matchup 11-3 at their home event. Edge to the Shock in this one, but if Columbus could steal a win in men's, that would be huge for the Sliders.

Mixed Doubles: Both mixed doubles lines are very strong for St. Louis -- Bright/Patriquin are 24-3 this year, while Tardio/Fahey are 23-6. Fahey was voted the league's Most Improved Player last week in large part because of her improvement in mixed this season. Daescu/Todd are 21-10 this year and represent Columbus' best chance to get a win or wins in this series, as Jansen/Klinger are just 13-12 on the year and have lost their last 7 in a row. Edge to St. Louis any way you slice it in mixed.

Dreambreaker: Columbus just won two straight Dreambreakers against a very good Dallas singles lineup, and the Sliders are 5-2 overall in Dreambreakers. But St. Louis is also pretty strong in singles, with a 3-1 record in Dreambreakers. I think this is a tossup.

No. 3 New Jersey 5s vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Mad Drops

How they got here: Both teams looked pretty strong in the quarterfinals. New Jersey earned a 2-0 sweep over Texas, although one of those matches went to a Dreambreaker, while Los Angeles beat a solid Brooklyn team handily in route to a 2-0 sweep.

Season series: New Jersey won both meetings in the regular season -- 3-2 on April 27 and 3-2 on July 26. The first meeting can be thrown out entirely because Hunter Johnson was out for LA and the Mad Drops hadn't traded for Ben Johns yet. Looking at the second meeting, I think New Jersey was pretty fortunate to win that Dreambreaker. Noe Khlif matched up against Ben Johns and played to a 6-6 split, while Anna Leigh Waters beat Catherine Parenteau 9-1. And New Jersey still only won 22-20. I'd expect both of those matchups to go more in LA's favor in the long run, if we see the same Dreambreaker order in this series.

Women's doubles: LA's Catherine Parenteau/Jade Kawamoto (22-8) and New Jersey's Anna Leigh Waters/Meghan Dizon (24-3) split the season series, with LA winning 11-8 on April 27 and New Jersey winning 11-3 on July 26. I'd put more stock in the second result, though, because Waters and Dizon finished the season very strong -- they have won their last 18 women's doubles games and haven't lost since May 25. Edge New Jersey.

Men's doubles: Ben Johns/Hunter Johnson (LA) beat Will Howells/Noe Khlif (NJ) 11-6 in the meeting on July 26. Johns and Johnson are 7-1 since Johns joined the Mad Drops, with the only loss coming to St. Louis' Patriquin/Tardio -- the best men's doubles team in the league. This one is pretty simple for me: Edge Los Angeles.

Mixed doubles: All eyes will be on how New Jersey chooses to set the lineups (they get to make that decision as the higher seed in Matches 1 and 2). In the meeting on July 16, they chose to put best vs. best, and Howells/Waters were able to beat Johns/Parenteau 11-4. That was just the first event for Johns/Parenteau, though, and I think they've only gotten better as a duo since then. In the other mixed game, Johnson/Kawamoto beat Dizon/Khlif 11-6. No matter how New Jersey chooses to set the lineups, a split in mixed seems to be a likely scenario.

Dreambreaker: As I mentioned at the top, New Jersey has already beaten LA twice in Dreambreakers this year. But I still think the Mad Drops have the better singles lineup on paper. In matches this season where LA had all four starters -- including Quang Duong before he was booted from the league -- the Mad Drops were 6-1 in Dreambreakers. And the one loss was the one on July 26 when New Jersey had everything go their way.

Major League Pickleball Challenger Level finals

No. 1 Las Vegas Night Owls vs. No. 2 Nashville Chefs

How they got here: Las Vegas and Nashville -- The Kitchen's MLP team -- have been No. 1 and No. 2 throughout the season. Las Vegas swept the Bay Area Breakers 2-0 in the semifinals, while Nashville also got 2-0 a sweep over the California Black Bears. 

Season series: Las Vegas leads 5-1, but only one of those matches has been played since Nashville made a trade late in the season for Genie Erokhina, who replaced Michelle Esquivel in the lineup. In that meeting on July 31, the Night Owls won 21-16 in a Dreambreaker. 

Women's doubles: Las Vegas' Brooke Buckner was voted the Challenger Level MVP, as she and Chao Yi Wang compiled a 22-8 record this season. Genie Erokhina/Ewa Radzikowska are 4-3 in their limited time playing together, but won both women's doubles games in the series against California handily. They also won the women's doubles game on July 31 against Las Vegas 12-10. This matchup seems like a tossup to me. 

Men's doubles: Las Vegas' James Delgado was voted the Challenger Level Most Improved Player -- he and Pablo Tellez are 17-11 together, while Nashville's men's duo of Marshall Brown/Anderson Scarpa are 19-11. In the six head-to-head meetings this season, Brown and Scarpa had a 4-2 record in men's doubles. Edge Nashville.

Mixed doubles: Las Vegas made a switch to their mixed doubles lineups late in the season. Lately they have been playing Tellez/Buckner (7-2) and Delgado/Wang (9-1) together -- both lineups have been strong. Nashville has also switched its mixed doubles lineups around since acquiring Erokhina. In the semifinals in San Diego, the Chefs went with Brown/Radzikowska (11-9) and Scarpa/Erokhina (5-1). Notably, Nashville did not play those mixed lineups in the latest loss to Las Vegas on July 31, so it's a bit of an unknown how the two teams stack up in mixed at this point. Las Vegas' overall body of work in mixed is a bit stronger, though.

Dreambreaker: The Night Owls are 8-2 in Dreambreakers this season, including an electric 22-20 Dreambreaker win vs. Nashville at the Mid-Season Tournament. Nashville, meanwhile was 6-6 in singles tiebreakers, but has only played in one Dreambreaker since Erokhina joined the team (a 21-16 loss to Las Vegas). Slight edge Night Owls.