The 2026 Major League Pickleball season kicks off on Friday at MLP Dallas, where 11 teams will take the court across four days in the Lone Star State.

The first three days will feature Group Play before the top 4 teams from each group advance to the Standing Point matches on Monday.

Here are the groups for this week’s event:

• Group A: Columbus Sliders, Dallas Flash, New Jersey 5s, Orlando Squeeze, and Phoenix Flames
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  Group B: Bay Area Breakers, Carolina Hogs, St. Louis Shock, Los Angeles Mad Drops, Texas Ranchers, and Utah Black Diamonds
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Here is the order of play:

Now, let’s get into what to watch for.

• Several players—many of them teenagers—will make their MLP debuts on Friday. This includes players like 15-year-old Tama Shimabukuro (Utah), Len Yang (Bay Area),18-year-old Alexa Schull (Phoenix), and 15-year-old Cam Chaffin (Phoenix). Shimabukuro will play alongside Connor Garnett and Etta Tuionetoa for Utah, and Yang will partner with Pablo Tellez and Mya Bui for Bay Area; both Schull and Chaffin will partner with Judit Castillo for Phoenix in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, respectively, while Schull will also partner with Jonathan Truong in mixed.
  
  
• The Columbus Sliders, the defending champions from 2025, will take the court against the Orlando Squeeze, but their roster will look a little different to start off 2026. Parris Todd is unavailable for this event as she finishes serving out a prior suspension, so Columbus will send out No. 3 overall draft pick Danni-Elle Townsend and trade acquisition Alix Truong in women’s doubles. Townsend, considered to be the top doubles player out of Australia, will partner with CJ Klinger in mixed doubles, while Truong will team up with Andrei Daescu.
  
  
• Two traditionally strong teams—the Dallas Flash and Orlando Squeeze—have made major roster moves coming into 2026. The Flash have a new-look women’s doubles team with Tyra Black set to team up with recent trade acquisition Brooke Buckner. Buckner was acquired from the Las Vegas Night Owls in exchange for Callie Smith and cash considerations. She will also play mixed doubles with Augie Ge, while Black will move into the top mixed doubles position with JW Johnson. Moving to Orlando, the Squeeze made noise by dropping Dylan Frazier at the keeper deadline and then selecting Jack Sock 8^th overall in the draft. Sock’s doubles game has improved considerably in 2026, so the Squeeze should be one of the most intriguing teams to watch this season.

Live broadcast coverage from Pickler Universe begins at 11am CT on Pickleballtv.