Major League Pickleball Week 1 (over)reactions + updated power rankings

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Apr 28 2025

1. The top teams and the bottom teams are pretty clear

Many observers felt that there would be a big gap between the good teams and bad teams this season after four 2024 Challenger Level teams were promoted to the Premier Level this season. That appears to be the case, with the defending champion Dallas Flash, 2024 runner-up New Jersey 5s and 2024 third-place finisher St. Louis all getting off to strong starts.

The Flash in particular looked dominant, only dropping two games en route to a 4-0 start. The Shock also were undefeated, going 2-0 and handing the 5s (5-1) their only loss of the week. Those teams are the clear top 3.

Six teams -- the Phoenix Flames, SoCal Hard Eights, Utah Black Diamonds, Carolina Hogs, Chicago Slice and New York Hustlers -- went winless in Orlando, and that wasn't particularly surprising. All of those teams were predicted by most to finish in the bottom half of the standings.

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While some have been critical of the disparity between the top teams and the bottom teams, I don't think it's that much different than other professional sports leagues. There's always good teams and bad teams. A month into the Major League Baseball season the Colorado Rockies are 4-22 and the Chicago White Sox are 7-20. It happens.

But the matches that featured two teams in the top 5 or two teams in the 4-10 range were interesting and competitive. I would expect that to be the case throughout the season.

2. The shift to side-out scoring seemingly resulted in more predictable outcomes (but it's early)

My early impression of the shift to side-out scoring in MLP is the results were more predictable compared to rally scoring. We probably need a bigger sample size to be able to say that for sure, but even playing only 1 game to 11, which some players felt would be random, the "better" team on paper still won almost every match this week.

Overall I don't think more predictability is bad thing for the league. A big criticism of MLP in the past was that games were made "artificially close" by rally scoring and the requirement that teams win on their serve while the trailing team could still score on every rally.

Side-out scoring also brings more strategy into play because it forces players to play both the right and left side or decide to stack when returning. Another underrated part of side-out scoring in mixed is to see which women's players can hold their own against a men's player with a big serve. In rally scoring, the men's players were always serving to each other (unless there was a lefty guy), while the women were serving to each other. Side-out scoring brings those aspects into play, giving more layers for the true pickleball junkies to analyze. And it also makes the game more familiar to the average viewer.

3. Jorja Johnson is ascending

Jorja Johnson was wrecking people all weekend, compiling an 8-0 individual record in Dallas' four matches and winning those 8 games by a combined score of 88-15. There's no doubt she gets player of the week honors.

With this week's performance and her gold medals in women's doubles and mixed doubles two weeks ago at the PPA Tour North Carolina Open, she is quickly building a case to be considered a top 3 women's player, if not top 2.

Martin Emmrich, who did a great job commentating several of this week's matches, said during play on Friday that Johnson's recent success should in part be credited to time spent training off the court in recent months. She's always been a talented player, he said, but he's seen her in the gym more lately and that work is paying off with consistent great results.

I also don't think her switch this year to the Franklin C45 can be overlooked. I have that paddle at No. 5 in my top 10 paddles list, and it's pop and maneuverability suit Johnson's game perfectly. (Buy it here)

4. I like the IDEA of home-court colors, but the execution this week was questionable

Fans tuning into PickleballTV this week were greeted with an unusual color scheme on both center court and grandstand court: Bright orange on the outside of the court and light blue within the court.

For the first time in the league's history, Major League Pickleball events are all being hosted in franchise markets, with the "home" team dictating the court setup.

While I applaud the Orlando Squeeze for clearly putting in the work to create a good atmosphere (the crowds were pretty big and seemed to have good energy all week), the color combo did not look great on TV and led to quite a few complaints from fans. Several players also noted that it was difficult to see the ball at times with the orange on the outside of the court.

Chalk it up to a good idea with so-so execution. I hope other teams put as much effort into hosting MLP events as the Squeeze did. Players generally seemed happy about the venue and vibe other than the court color.

5. The injury replacement system is perplexing

With the league expanding to 6-player rosters at the Premier Level, I (and others) assumed we were done with the old system where teams could pick up on-site injury replacement players if one of their starters couldn't play.

But several teams chose not to bring their No. 5 and No. 6 players to Orlando, so the league still provided several players for teams to pick from if they needed a sub.

The LA Mad Drops ended up needing to pick up AJ Koller from that player pool when Hunter Johnson couldn't play because of an injured finger, leaving fans (and me) to wonder what the point of expanding to 6-player rosters was if those players aren't going to go to the events.

Major League Pickleball Week 1 Standings

Major League Pickleball Power Rankings - Week 1

#1: Dallas Flash ⬆️

Starters: Jorja Johnson, Tyra Black, JW Johnson, Augie Ge

Bench players: Wyatt Stone, Tatiana Ruhl

Preseason ranking: #2

Week 1 results: W 3-1 vs. Columbus; W 4-0 vs. New York; W 3-1 vs. Carolina; W 4-0 vs. Chicago.

You couldn't ask for a better start to the season if you're Dallas. Jorja Johnson was on fire, Augie Ge picked up where he left off in 2024 and all went according to plan. They didn't have the strongest schedule, playing three teams (New York, Carolina and Chicago) that are likely in the bottom half of the league. But their 3-1 win over Columbus was very impressive.

#2: St. Louis Shock ⬆️

Starters: Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio

Bench players: Felicity Di Laura, Erik Lange

Preseason ranking: #3

Week 1 results: W 3-2 vs. Brooklyn; W 3-1 vs. New Jersey.

St. Louis came out of the gates with different mixed pairings than we saw last year, electing to play Patriquin with Fahey and Tardio with Bright. It didn't go well in their first match, losing both mixed matchups with Brooklyn, but they were able to win the Dreambreaker in that one. Things went better in their second match on Sunday, with an impressive regulation win over the 5s.

#3: New Jersey 5s ⬇️

Starters: Anna Leigh Waters, Meghan Dizon, Will Howells, Zane Navratil

Bench players: Christa Gecheva, Craig Johnson

Preseason ranking: #1

Week 1 results: W 3-1 vs. Columbus; W 3-2 vs. Brooklyn; W 3-1 vs. Atlanta; W 3-1 vs. Phoenix; W 3-2 vs. LA; L 1-3 vs. St. Louis.

I'm sure the 5s are walking away from Orlando with a little bit of a bad taste in their mouth after losing the final match of the weekend to St. Louis, but overall a strong start. It was a little surprising that they needed a Dreambreaker to beat LA, but this is a team that is built to win those if needed.

#4: Columbus Sliders ↔️

Starters: Lea Jansen, Parris Todd, Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger

Bench players: Roscoe Bellamy, Marcela Hones

Preseason ranking: #4

Week 1 results: L 1-3 vs. New Jersey; L 1-3 vs. Dallas; W 3-1 vs. Carolina; W 3-1 vs. Texas; W 4-0 vs. Utah; W 4-0 vs. Miami.

Columbus had a very tough slate to start the week, losing to the 5s and Flash. But they showed they can be the "best of the rest" outside of the top 3 with decisive wins in their other four matches.

#5: Texas Ranchers ⬆️

Starters: Tina Pisnik, Etta Tuionetoa, Christian Alshon, Eric Oncins

Bench players: Michael Loyd, Helena Jansen

Preseason ranking: #6

Week 1 results: W 3-1 vs. Brooklyn; W 4-0 vs. Atlanta; L 3-1 vs. Columbus; W 3-1 vs. Chicago.

The new pairing of Alshon and Oncins showed they can be a top tier men's team with an 11-2 win over Brooklyn's Dekel Bar and Riley Newman and an 11-8 win over the Columbus' Andrei Daescu and CJ Klinger. But they also lost 7-11 to Chicago's Jame's Ignatowich and Max Freeman, so there might be some consistency concerns with those two. But their women are solid and if everybody is playing well they are a dangerous team.

#6: Brooklyn Pickleball Team ⬇️

Starters: Rachel Rohrabacher, Jackie Kawamoto, Dekel Bar, Riley Newman

Bench players: Hannah Blatt, Pat Smith

Preseason ranking: #5

Week 1 results: L 1-3 vs. Texas; L 2-3 vs. New Jersey; W 3-1 vs. Miami; W 3-1 vs. Orlando; L 2-3 vs. St. Louis.

Brooklyn's 2-3 record doesn't look great, but all three of those losses came to teams I have in the top 5. I thought they were better than Texas coming into the season, but Texas beat them pretty handily on Thursday, so I had to drop them a spot.

#7: Orlando Squeeze ⬆️

Starters: Lacy Schneemann, Samantha Parker, Dylan Frazier, Federico Staksrud

Bench players: Tom Evans, Alli Phillips

Preseason ranking: #8

Week 1 results: W 3-1 vs. SoCal; W 3-2 vs. Phoenix; W 3-1 vs. Utah; L 1-3 vs. Brooklyn; W 3-1 vs. LA.

In addition to hosting what was largely a well-received event (aside from the court color), Orlando got off to a great start with four wins. I still think it will be tough for them to compete with the top dogs, but they can for sure be a playoff team. The question is how high of a seed.

#8: Los Angeles Mad Drops ⬇️

Starters: Jade Kawamoto, Catherine Parenteau, Hunter Johnson (replaced by AJ Koller this week), Quang Duong

Bench players: Wes Burrows, Angie Walker, Thomas Wilson (IR)

Preseason ranking: #7

Week 1 results: W 3-1 vs. Miami; L 2-3 vs. New Jersey; L 3-1 vs. Orlando

Losing Hunter Johnson to a finger injury definitely didn't help, as AJ Koller went 2-4 on the week and lost all four of his matches on Sunday vs. New Jersey and Orlando. The good news for Los Angeles is they don't play again until MLP Austin at the end of May, so it seems likely that Johnson will be back by then.

#9: Phoenix Flames ⬆️

Starters: Jessie Irvine, Genie Bouchard, Jack Sock, Tyson McGuffin

Bench players: Alex Walker, Pesa Teoni

Preseason ranking: #11

Week 1 results: L 2-3 vs. Orlando; L 1-3 vs. New Jersey.

Not a lot to go on with only two matches, but it was encouraging that they were able to take Orlando to a Dreambreaker. Except they're supposed to be able to win Dreambreakers with three very good singles players on their roster, so if they're not going to win those it's hard to imagine them making much noise this year. I think they can beat the bottom 5 teams and be competitive with the teams in the 5-10 range, but will probably lose handily against any of the top 5 teams.

#10: Carolina Pickleball Club ⬆️

Starters: Kaitlyn Christian, Tamaryn Emmrich, Ben Johns, Collin Johns

Bench players: Liz Truluck, Brandon French

Preseason ranking: #11

Week 1 results: L 1-3 vs. Columbus; L 1-3 vs. Dallas

Ben and Collin were the only men's team to beat JW Johnson and Augie Ge this week, but they lost 11-4 to Columbus' Andrei Daescu and CJ Klinger. Carolina needs that men's team to win to have a chance in any match. That said, having to play Dallas and Columbus in Week 1 is rough. They'll do better against other teams.

#11: Chicago Slice ⬇️

Likely starters: Vivienne David, Callie Smith, James Ignatowich, Max Freeman

Bench players: Pierina Imparato, Carlos Di Laura

Preseason ranking: #9

Week 1 results: L 0-4 vs. Dallas; L 1-3 vs. Texas.

Chicago can be decent, but they also ran into two good teams this week. But they weren't competitive at all against those teams, so they drop 2 spots.