There are four Major League Pickleball teams left standing with one weekend left to play — the semifinals and finals in New York City on Aug. 28-30.

The New Jersey 5s, as the No. 1 overall seed, had their choice of opponent between the Brooklyn Pickleball Team (No. 3 seed) and Dallas Flash (No. 4 seed). The 5s opted to play Brooklyn, which means the St. Louis Shock (the No. 2 seed) will play Dallas.

Below is a breakdown of each semifinal matchup, including lineup stats, past head-to-head results and how I think the teams stack up heading into New York (all stats courtesy of PickleKey.com).

Check back next week to find the full match schedule and predictions from our crew at The Kitchen.

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Major League Pickleball Semifinal matchups

NEW JERSEY 5s vs. BROOKLYN PICKLEBALL TEAM

2026 head-to-head: New Jersey won the lone matchup between the two teams this season, 3-0 on June 28 at MLP New York. Notably, Rohrabacher suffered an injury during that event and did not play women’s doubles in the match vs. the 5s. She did still play mixed doubles, but clearly wasn’t 100% healthy.

New Jersey 5s projected lineup
Anna Leigh Waters/Jorja Johnson (33-1, 97%)
Federico Staksrud/Will Howells (4-3, 57%)
Noe Khlif/Anna Leigh Waters (29-5, 85%)
Federico Staksrud/Jorja Johnson (7-1, 87%)
Dreambreaker: Staksrud, Howells, Waters, Johnson.

Brooklyn Pickleball Team projected lineup
Jackie Kawamoto/Rachel Rohrabacher (12-5, 71%)
Christian Alshon/Riley Newman (22-4, 85%)
Christian Alshon/Rachel Rohrabacher (20-5, 80%)
Riley Newman/Jackie Kawamoto (13-8, 62%)
Dreambreaker: Chris Haworth, Christian Alshon, Hannah Blatt, Jackie Kawamoto.

On paper I think Brooklyn is slightly stronger than Dallas, but the Flash have been red hot in recent weeks, so I can see why New Jersey wanted to avoid them. Regardless, any series at this stage of the season is likely to be close.

Women’s doubles: I think the 5s have a clear edge over anybody in the league in women’s doubles, but Kawamoto/Rohrabacher were the No. 6 women’s team in 2026 and just took 2/3 games from Columbus’ Parris Todd/Tyra Black last weekend in Newport Beach. It could be closer than people think.

Men’s doubles: Decent edge to Brooklyn, as Staksrud/Howells still haven’t shown that they’re an elite men’s team in their short time playing together since Staksrud was traded to the 5s. Two of their four wins together were against California and Carolina (not the strongest teams), and when they’ve played a top-tier men’s doubles team (St. Louis and Los Angeles) they’ve lost handily — 11-3 to Ben Johns/Max Freeman and 11-5 to Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio.

Mixed doubles: This is where things get interesting. Khlif/Waters lost both of their games against Dekel Bar/Tina Pisnik in the quarterfinals last week, so there’s been some chatter among fans and pundits wondering if the 5s should switch it up and go with Howells/Waters or Staksrud/Waters moving forward. I don’t think they will make a drastic change like that at this point in the season, and I don’t expect a team that went 29-3 in the regular season to lose three or four matches in a row. The good news for New Jersey: Waters has historically dominated Alshon in their matches against each other on the PPA Tour … but Waters also gets to play with Ben Johns in those matches. And even if Khlif/Waters stumble again, Staksrud/Johnson have been very strong so far together and will be clear favorites against Newman/Kawamoto, assuming that’s the way things match up.

Dreambreaker: Both teams are pretty strong on paper in singles, although their records don’t necissarily reflect that. New Jersey is 3-2 in Dreambreakers this season, while Brooklyn is 4-6. Let’s assume for now the teams put strength vs. strength:

Federico Staksrud vs. Chris Haworth: Slight edge to Haworth on paper, although I have more trust in Staksrud to rise to the occasion in a pressure-packed situation. Sign me up to watch these two on the biggest stage.

Will Howells vs. Christian Alshon: Clear edge to Alshon, but Howells can get hot and has been in plenty of big moments for the 5s the past two seasons — New Jersey made the MLP Finals in 2024 and 2025.

Anna Leigh Waters vs. Hannah Blatt: The 5s will be counting on Waters to run up the score in this matchup. If Blatt can steal a handful of points, things start to tilt in Brooklyn’s favor.

Jorja Johnson vs. Jackie Kawamoto: Kawamoto was huge for Brooklyn in their Dreambreaker win over Columbus in the quarterfinals, outscoring Judit Castillo (a very good singles player) 6-1. If it came down to this matchup at the end, I’d feel good if I was Brooklyn.

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ST. LOUIS SHOCK vs. DALLAS FLASH

2026 head-to-head: They didn’t play each other this season.

St. Louis Shock projected lineup
Anna Bright/Kate Fahey (30-4, 88%)
Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio (30-4, 88%)
Hayden Patriquin/Anna Bright (25-7, 78%)
Gabe Tardio/Kate Fahey (21-4, 84%)

Dallas Flash projected lineup
Danni-Elle Townsend/Alix Truong (15-12, 56%)
JW Johnson/Augie Ge (25-12, 68%)
JW Johnson/Brooke Buckner (22-12, 65%)
Danni-Elle Townsend/Augie Ge (19-4, 83%)

St. Louis could not have looked better in the Quarterfinals — the Shock left no doubt in their series vs. Texas, cruising to a 2-0 sweep and outscoring the Ranchers by a combined score of 66-20. But the Flash have also been on a heater lately, winning 15 of their past 16 matches and taking down a strong LA Mad Drops team in Newport Beach. I expect this to be a close series.

Women’s doubles: Significant edge to St. Louis. Bright/Fahey looked like they were on a mission last week vs. the Ranchers, and I expect them to continue to be locked in. They’ve also been here before — St. Louis has lost in the semifinals each of the past two seasons in heartbreaking fashion. I actually think that will work in St. Louis’ favor, especially in women’s doubles, where they have much more experience in high-pressure situations.

Men’s doubles: Patriquin/Tardio have been the best men’s doubles team in the league each of the past two seasons, but Johnson/Ge are also playing great right now and are coming off of an 11-2 win over Ben Johns/Max Freeman in a win-or-go-home match in Newport Beach. St. Louis has the advantage on paper, but I expect this matchup to be a war.

Mixed Doubles: Again St. Louis has the advantage on paper in both mixed doubles matchups, but given the way Dallas played under pressure last week, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Flash steal some mixed games along the way in this series. Johnson/Buckner played their best when it mattered the most in Newport Beach, and Townsend/Ge have been a huge reason Dallas has made it this far. That said, Tardio/Fahey will be their toughest test yet in the No. 2 mixed spot.

Dreambreaker: St. Louis was 2-1 in singles tiebreakers this season, while Dallas was 7-4. Here’s how they match up if they go strength vs. strength:

Hunter Johnson vs. JW Johnson: Hunter is a Top 3 singles player on the PPA Tour and St. Louis picked him up at the trade deadline specifically for this reason. However, we’ve seen JW come up big in high-pressure Dreambreaker moments again and again in MLP over the past few years, so I actually think this a tossup.

Hayden Patriquin vs. Augie Ge: This is another one I think is pretty close. Neither player is known for being particularly great in singles, but both have a ton of experience in Dreambreakers.

Kate Fahey vs. Brooke Buckner: Both are Top 5 singles players on the PPA Tour, but Fahey is the clear No. 2 women’s singles player behind Anna Leigh Waters. Slight edge to St. Louis here.

Anna Bright vs. Danni-Elle Townsend: I don’t have a strong feeling either way on this matchup. Bright doesn’t play a lot of singles, but she’s the ultimate competitor and we’ve seen her turn it on when she needs to. Townsend also isn’t known for her singles play, but she’s been fearless in her first year in the league, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she also rises to the occasion and plays great.