The Major League Pickleball playoffs are underway from San Diego.

The first-round matches at the Premier Level are in the books and two teams have been eliminated: The Miami Pickleball Club and Utah Black Diamonds.

We'll be updating this blog throughout the weekend as the quarterfinal rounds progress and we get closer to determining the final four teams that will advance to the MLP Finals in New York City next weekend.

Buy tickets: MLP Finals in New York City

Major League Pickleball Premier Level first-round playoff results

Texas Ranchers def. Miami Pickleball Club 3-2: The Ranchers raised eyebrows earlier this season when they traded Etta Tuionetoa for Kaitlyn Christian, but that bet paid off in a big way in this match. Texas' women's duo of Christian and Tina Pisnik was dominant, winning 11-0, and Christian also won her mixed game. But the biggest reason the Ranchers wanted to get Christian in that trade was for her singles ability, and she was a huge reason they won the Dreambreaker 21-19 -- she was 8-2 against Mya Bui in their matchup against each other.

Orlando Squeeze def. Utah Black Diamonds 3-1: Orlando had to adjust their starting lineup after Dylan Frazier suffered an injury last week at the PPA Tour Bristol Open and sat out this match. Bench player Grayson Goldin stepped up big time for the Squeeze, though, with wins in men's doubles and mixed doubles to propel Orlando to the quarterfinals. You have to think that's a huge confidence boost for Goldin and his team as they head into the next round.

Major League Pickleball Premier Level quarterfinal matchups (best of 3 series)

No. 1 St. Louis Shock def. No. 8 Orlando Squeeze 3-0, 3-1: After getting swept 3-0 on Friday, Orlando was much sharper in Match 2 on Saturday -- but St. Louis was up for the challenge. After dropping women's doubles, the Shock won a very close men's doubles match and a very close first mixed match. St. Louis will again get to select its opponent for the semifinals in New York City. 

No. 5 Columbus Sliders def. No. 2 Dallas Flash 2-3, 3-2, 3-2: This was a perplexing decision from the Flash, who chose to play Columbus. They only lost three times in the regular season, and one of those losses was to the Sliders in July. They had their choice between Columbus, LA or Texas. The Ranchers were the weakest team of those three throughout the season and barely made it out of the first round against Miami on Friday morning, so many (including me) fully expected Dallas to choose Texas. After narrowly escaping with a 21-18 win in a Dreambreaker in Match 1 against Columbus, the Flash weren't so fortunate in Match 2 and Match 3, which both went to a Dreambreaker. The Sliders won Saturday's Match 2 21-14 in the Dreambreaker, led by some great singles play from Lea Jansen, who beat Tyra Black 8-0 in their matchup. Then in the deciding Match 3 on Sunday it was CJ Klinger who came up big when it mattered most. With the game tied 18-18, he took the ball and scored three straight on Augie Ge to close the deal and send Dallas home early.

No. 3 New Jersey 5s def. No. 7 Texas Ranchers 3-0, 3-2: I imagine New Jersey reacted as if they'd just found a $100 bill on the ground when they saw that Texas was still on the board when it came time to select their opponent. The 5s have consistently been a step below the top two (St. Louis and Dallas), but a step above everybody else throughout the season, and that held true in this series. They didn't have much trouble in Match 1 against the Ranchers, winning 3-0. The women's doubles match between Tina Pisnik/Kaitlyn Christian and Anna Leigh Waters/Meghan Dizon was very close and Waters/Dizon fought off multiple game points before winning 12-10. After that it was pretty much all 5s. Match 2 was much closer, with the 5s winning both gender doubles matchups and the Ranchers winning both mixed games. In the Dreambreaker, Will Howells played Christian Alshon to a 5-5 split, which was crucial because that allowed Anna Leigh Waters to lift and separate with a great performance against Texas' Kaitlin Christian. Waters beat Christian 7-1 in that matchup and the 5s went on to win 21-13. Losing a non-competitive Dreambreaker is a tough way for the Ranchers to end their season, since singles ability was a big reason they traded for Christian. Waters has played Christian four times in women's singles on the PPA Tour and has never dropped a game -- she's won 11-7, 11-1; 11-3, 11-6; 11-1, 11-2; 11-0, 11-6. So it seems like Waters knows Christian's game well and was probably pretty confident heading into that matchup, although I'm sure Texas was hoping to get more than one point out of it. Moving forward, there will still be a lot of attention on the decision by the 5s to trade for Noe Khlif at the deadline and inserting him into the starting lineup over Zane Navratil. Khlif was 2-0 in men's doubles in the series vs. Texas, but 0-1 in mixed with Meghan Dizon, which is the lineup New Jersey seemingly wanted to bolster when they made the trade. If they don't make it to the final like they did in 2024, that will be the move that everybody points to.

No. 6 Los Angeles Mad Drops def. No. 4 Brooklyn Pickleball Team 3-0, 3-1: This was a very tough matchup for Brooklyn. After playing much of the season without a fully healthy roster, they had to play the team everybody wanted to avoid. Dekel Bar made his return after 2 1/2 months off -- due to an illness and then an injury -- but it did not go well in the first match of this series. Bar/Riley Newman lost 11-1 in men's doubles to Ben Johns/Hunter Johnson, then Bar/Rachel Rohrabacher lost 11-3 to Johns/Catherine Parenteau as the Mad Drops cruised to a 3-0 win. Match 2 was closer, with Brooklyn taking women's doubles, but again Ben Johns played very well to win men's doubles 11-4 and mixed doubles 11-5. It looked like Johns had his A game throughout the weekend, and if that continues throughout the playoffs, the rest of the field could be in big trouble. They are carrying a ton of momentum and positive vibes into New York.

Premier Level semifinalists set, but matchups still unknown

The following teams will play in New York City next weekend for a chance at the 2025 MLP title: St. Louis (1 seed), New Jersey (2 seed), Columbus (3 seed), Los Angeles (4 seed).

St. Louis will have their choice of who they play between Columbus or Los Angeles, but we won't know who they pick until later this week.

Major League Pickleball Challenger Level playoff results and matchups

First round

California Black Bears def. Florida Smash 3-0 (Florida eliminated)

Bay Area Breakers def. D.C. Pickleball Team 3-1 (D.C. eliminated)

Second round

No. 1 Las Vegas Night Owls def. No. 4 Bay Area Breakers 3-1, 3-0: Las Vegas has been the best team in Challenger all season and kept it rolling in this series. The only bright spot for Bay Area was the sibling duo of Alix Truong and Jonathan Truong getting a win in mixed in Match 1, but other than that it was all Night Owls. Las Vegas' men's pair of Pablo Tellez/James Delgado beat Darrian Young/Jonathan Truong 11-1, 11-2 in their two games. Las Vegas has now punched their ticket to the Challenger Level finals next weekend in New York City.

No. 2 Nashville Chefs def. No. 3 California Black Bears 3-0, 3-1: The Chefs -- The Kitchen's MLP team -- and Black Bears had gone back and forth all season, but Nashville played great all day Saturday. Match 2 came down to the wire, but Ewa Radzikowska/Marshall Brown closed it out with a 12-10 win over Lina Padegimaite/Martin Emmrich.

Saturday's results set up a Challenger Level final between two teams -- the Night Owls and Chefs -- that have been 1-2 all season. Las Vegas was 5-1 against Nashville throughout the season, but four of those matches ended in a Dreambreaker -- most notably the Mid-Season Tournament final, which Las Vegas won 22-20.