The Major League Pickleball season continues Thursday at MLP Columbus, where 11 teams will be in action across four days in the Ohio capital. 

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

Here are the groups for this week’s event: 

Group A: Atlanta Bouncers, California Black Bears, Chicago Slice, Columbus Sliders, Miami Pickleball Club, New Jersey 5s

Group B: Carolina Hogs, Florida Smash, Las Vegas Night Owls, Palm Beach Royals, St. Louis Shock  

Here is the order of play:

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

• Seven teams will make their season debuts on Thursday. Those squads include the Atlanta Bouncers, California Black Bears, Chicago Slice, Miami Pickleball Club, Florida Smash, Las Vegas Night Owls, and Palm Beach Royals. For the Royals, Thursday’s clash against the Carolina Hogs will mark their first match in franchise history as Sofia Sewing makes her highly anticipated MLP debut. Read more here.

• When the New Jersey 5s take on the Chicago Slice, they will face two familiar opponents in Mari Humberg and Zane Navratil. Both players played for New Jersey for the 2024 and most of the 2025 campaigns, both of which ended in runner-up finishes for the 5s. Humberg/Navratil played together for the entirety of the 2024 season and will team up once again on Thursday against the 5s’ new pairing of Anna Leigh Waters/Noe Khlif.

• Parris Todd will make her season debut for the Columbus Sliders after missing last week’s MLP Dallas due to a prior suspension. The defending champions still picked up 18 standings points with a second-place finish in the Lone Star State and will now have a chance to defend their home court at full strength. Todd will team up with Danni-Elle Townsend for the first time in women’s doubles and continue her partnership with Andrei Daescu in mixed doubles as the Sliders take on the Miami Pickleball Club in the final match of the day. 

Live broadcast coverage from Pickle & Chill begins at 10am CT on Pickleballtv.