Major League Pickleball Phoenix wrapped up Sunday in the desert, and the fourth event of the season gave us a good chance to see several teams who figure to be fighting for the last couple playoff spots at the end of the season.

It also gave us a larger sample size to look at for teams than had only played a handful of matches heading into the weekend.

The Dallas Flash continued to dominate, winning all 6 of their matches in regulation and walking away from Phoenix with the maximum number of points possible (18).

Not surprisingly, Brooklyn proved to be second best out of the participating squads at MLP Phoenix. They went 5-1, their only loss coming to the Flash, and racked up 15 points.

The Los Angeles Mad Drops also turned in a solid performance, going 4-2 on the weekend despite being without the suspended Quang Duong for the majority of their matches at this event.

There was little movement toward the top of my power rankings this week, but some notable shuffling in the No. 10-12 spots, which represents the playoff bubble. The top 10 teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the postseason.

Major League Pickleball Premier Level updated standings (as of June 2)

Major League Pickleball Power Rankings - Week 4

#1: Dallas Flash ↔️

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

Bench players: Ivan Jakovljevic, Tatiana Ruhl

Previous ranking: #1

Record: 14-0
Dreambreaker record: 2-0

The defending champs continue to show up in every match and take care of business. They went 6-0 this weekend and were 20-4 in individual games. Jorja Johnson has been particularly impressive, compiling an individual record of 26-2 to this point in the season and winning 73.75% of points played -- by far the best in the league. I've got the following dates circles, and would recommend fans do the same: July 9-13 (Mid-season tournament) and July 17-20 (MLP St. Louis). That's when Dallas will likely play the St. Louis Shock in what will be highly anticipated matchups.

#2: St. Louis Shock ↔️

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

Bench players: Felicity Di Laura, Erik Lange

Previous ranking: #2

Record: 8-0
Dreambreaker record: 1-0

St. Louis had the week off. We'll see them later this week at MLP Daytona Beach (we'll have more on that event in a couple days).

#3: New Jersey 5s ↔️

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

Bench players: Christa Gecheva, Craig Johnson

Previous ranking: #3

Record: 8-2
Dreambreaker record: 2-1

New Jersey also had the week off, and also will be in Daytona.

#4: Texas Ranchers ↔️

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

Bench players: Michael Loyd, Helena Jansen

Previous ranking: #4

Record: 5-3
Dreambreaker record: 0-1

Texas also had the week off, and also will be in Daytona. Texas and Brooklyn are in a very similar position in the standings, but Texas has the head-to-head advantage for these here power rankings, with a regulation win over Brooklyn on April 24.

#5: Brooklyn Pickleball Team ↔️

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

Bench players: Hannah Blatt, Pat Smith

Previous ranking: #5

Record: 7-4
Dreambreaker record: 0-2

They did what they needed to do in Phoenix and have solidified a strong position in the playoff race. There is an injury concern with Riley Newman coming out of the event, however. He appeared to injure his groin during a match against Utah on Sunday. He was able to finish the match (and won), but sat out Brooklyn's last match of the event. The good news for Brooklyn is that they don't play again until MLP San Clemente, which starts June 26. Pat Smith also looked solid as a sub, if they need him going forward, winning both of his games against Phoenix.

#6: Orlando Squeeze ↔️

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

Bench players: Tom Evans, Alli Phillips

Previous ranking: #6

Record: 10-5
Dreambreaker record: 2-0

They were off this week and won't play again until the Mid-Season Tournament July 9-13.

#7: Columbus Sliders ↔️

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

Bench players: Ross Whittaker, Marcela Hones

Previous ranking: #7

Record: 7-4
Dreambreaker record: 1-0

Columbus has been the most disappointing team for me so far this season. I thought they would be able to push for a spot in the top 3, but it just isn't clicking. They obviously were hurt by not having CJ Klinger for their home event in Columbus, but their women also underperformed in that event. They have regulation losses to New Jersey, Dallas, St. Louis and Orlando this season. I'll need to see them be more competitive against those top teams before I consider moving them up.

#8: Los Angeles Mad Drops ↔️

Starters: Jade Kawamoto, Catherine Parenteau, Hunter Johnson, Quang Duong

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

Previous ranking: #8

Record: 5-4
Dreambreaker record: 1-1

We still don't have a very good read on this team's potential. Hunter Johnson missed the first event in Orlando with a finger injury, and Quang Duong missed four of the team's six matches this weekend in Phoenix. Given those hurdles, this team is probably happy to be sitting at 5-4 right now and in a fairly secure place in the standings. They looked pretty competitive against Dallas on Sunday, winning women's doubles easily and losing men's doubles 12-10, so maybe having them at No. 8 is too low? They will play five matches at MLP Daytona, including matches against St. Louis and Texas, so they have a good opportunity to get some quality wins there.

#9: Miami Pickleball Club ↔️

Starters: Milan Rane, Mya Bui, Jay Devilliers, Noe Khlif

Bench players: Yuta Funemizu, Ava Ignatowich

Previous ranking: #9

Record: 6-9
Dreambreaker record: 3-1

They had the week off. Next event: Mid-Season Tournament July 9-13.

#10: Chicago Slice ↔️

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

Bench players: Pierina Imparato, Carlos Di Laura

Previous ranking: #10

Record: 2-6
Dreambreaker record: 1-3

This team will need to figure out their Dreambreaker troubles to have a chance at a playoff berth. They didn't play in Austin or Phoenix, but will be back in action in Daytona.

#11: Utah Black Diamonds ⬆️

Starters: Allyce Jones, Genie Erokhina, Tyler Loong, Connor Garnett

Bench players: Mehvish Safdar, Yates Johnson

Previous ranking: #13

Record: 3-6
Dreambreaker record: 0-1

Utah was the big winner this weekend of the teams in the bottom half of the league standings. They got wins over Atlanta, Phoenix and SoCal to move into playoff contention. I considered moving them ahead of Chicago, but my gut tells me Chicago is still slightly better. They will play each other this weekend in Daytona, so we'll find out soon enough. 

#12: Phoenix Flames ⬇️

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

Bench players: Alex Walker, Pesa Teoni

Previous ranking: #11

Record: 3-11
Dreambreaker record: 3-3

This team is such a bummer. They show flashes -- like on Saturday night when Tyson McGuffin and Jack Sock beat JW Johnson and Augie Ge 11-9. Sock looked like the best player on the court at times in that game, but then he and Genie Bouchard got beat 11-1 by Ge and Tyra Black about 20 minutes later. Other than McGuffin, they're just all over the place from a consistency standpoint. Sock and Bouchard are 1-12 as a pair this season. That's ... not good. But they have taken teams like Orlando and Columbus to Dreambreakers (they lost both), which is more than the other teams in this region of my rankings can say.

#13: Atlanta Bouncers ⬇️

Starters: Vivian Glozman, Victoria Di Muzio, Todd Fought, Jaume Martinez Vich

Bench players: Sam Querrey, Rachel Rettger

Previous ranking: #12

Record: 4-11
Dreambreaker record: 1-1

Of the bottom 5 teams, they have the highest quality win (in a Dreambreaker over Miami at MLP Columbus), but their only other wins are against the three teams we haven't named yet.

#14: SoCal Hard Eights ⬆️

Starters: Judit Castillo, Irina Tereschenko, Roscoe Bellamy, Ryan Fu

Bench players: Blaine Hovenier, Lauren Hidalgo-Smith

Previous ranking: #15

Record: 1-7
Dreambreaker record: 0-2

They got in the win column with a regulation victory over Phoenix (which is more of a bad look for Phoenix than a good look for SoCal) and also took LA to a Dreambreaker this weekend. That's a move in the right direction.

#15: New York Hustlers ⬇️

Starters: Lingwei Kong, Dominique Schaefer, Zane Ford, Donald Young

Bench players: Helena Spiridis, Stephen Madonia

Previous ranking: #14

Record: 2-5
Dreambreaker record: 1-0

They had the week off.

#16: Carolina Hogs ↔️

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

Bench players: Liz Truluck, Brandon French

Previous ranking: #16

Record: 0-8
Dreambreaker record: 0-2

Do I truly think that this team (when everybody plays) is worse than SoCal or New York? No, probably not. But do I think they deserve to be last in my rankings after what we witnessed in Columbus? Absolutely. They didn't play this week, so they didn't get a chance to prove they're better than their record says. We'll see them in Daytona, so maybe they can get out of the dog house (or the pig pen?) at that event.