MLP St. Louis was all about the Shock, as they cruised to a first place finish in front of their home fans. St. Louis had not played their best in the first two events of 2026, but those memories were emphatically erased. LA and Brooklyn were competitive, finishing second and third, but the domination of the event by the Shock was the big story.

 

 

St. Louis came into 2026 as one of the championship favorites, along with New Jersey. But St. Louis could only grab a second and then a third place finish in the first two MLP events in Dallas and Columbus. While those are solid finishes, when you consider your team to be the best, it is a disappointment. So the Shock came home to St. Louis with something to prove. 

 

As expected, St. Louis dominated Pool B. They only dropped two games in four matches, and those were in meaningless #2 mixed matches that could not change the outcome. But we all expected a tougher road in the final, with St. Louis matched up against LA, the same team which had defeated St. Louis once before this year. But the outcome was never in doubt. St. Louis swept LA in three games, none of which were competitive, 11-1, 11-3, 11-5.

 

The result firmly stamps St. Louis as one of the very top teams to beat this year, if not THE team to beat. They send out four doubles teams, all with top 10 players. They are solid in singles. At the beginning of the season, the expectation was that St. Louis would likely face New Jersey in the 2026 final and nothing occurred in MLP St. Louis to indicate that likelihood has been diminished.

 

 

 

LA grabbed second place and 18 standings points. Brooklyn defeated Orlando in the third place game for 15 standings points. Brooklyn was somewhat hampered by an injury to Riley Newman, but Chris Haworth played well filling in.

 

LA and Brooklyn are among the top five teams, all of which can conceivably win the 2026 championship. But the flaws on each team were on display in St. Louis. For LA, the duo of Catherine Parenteau and Jade Kawamoto are simply not playing like they did in 2025. They were playing like top five players for much of 2025 and they started 2026 that way in the first event. But they have since cooled off. They were steamrolled 11-1 by Anna Bright and Kate Fahey in the St. Louis final, and LA can ill afford to lose the opining women’s doubles match. Ben Johns can do a lot, but his pairing with Max Freeman was exposed against St. Louis in the final. Johns and Freeman were up against Hayden Patriquin and Gabe Tardio, two top five players. Freeman, who is not a top 20 player, could not keep up. Although the second mixed doubles match was not needed, St. Louis would be a big favorite in that match, as Tardio is far better than Freeman. The makeup of the LA lineup puts a lot of pressure on Johns. He has to be dominant in his two matches, and he needs some help from the women’s doubles match, or the best LA can hope for against top teams is to go to a DreamBreaker.

 

For Brooklyn, there were good signs in St. Louis. Christian Alshon played well and with energy. The women’s duo of Rachel Rohrabacher and Jackie Kawamoto played well. Riley Newman played well, but got hurt, and Chris Haworth played well filling in, especially in the third place match. Against LA in pool play, Brooklyn had their chances, but Newman’s absence hurt. Brooklyn has good depth top to bottom and is a championship contender, but they are in that second tier with LA and Columbus, behind New Jersey and St. Louis.

 

 

 

Orlando and Palm Beach came into MLP St. Louis with a chance to prove they could compete with anyone. They left with some good news, but any thought that either team was a championship contender was firmly put to rest. Orlando and Palm Beach started out well, both defeating an average Atlanta team 3-1, and Palm Beach added a 4-0 drubbing of Bay Area. That set up a pool play confrontation between Orlando and Palm Beach. The winner could claim some momentum. It was a close match, with Orlando taking the #2 mixed doubles match 12-10 to avoid a DreamBreaker and win 3-1.

 

But, after that, Orlando and Palm Beach had to deal with the big boys. St. Louis dominated Orlando 4-0 and took the first three matches against Palm Beach easily, allowing Palm Beach a win in a meaningless second mixed doubles match. In the Sunday finals, Palm Beach was able to claim fifth place, while Orlando lost to Brooklyn, to finish fourth.

 

Orlando and Palm Beach are exactly who we think they are. Nice teams, which will make the playoffs, but have zero chance of beating the best teams and threatening for a championship.

 

 

 

Las Vegas and Utah had their moments. Utah went 3-3, and Las Vegas defeated Utah to earn a sixth place finish. They played each other in a really fun pool play matchup won by Las Vegas in a DreamBreaker. For the other teams, they have to be encouraged by some moments of solid play by younger players such as Cailyn Campbell and Will MacKinnon of SoCal, and Cam Chaffin with Phoenix.

 

Las Vegas and Utah will be competitive for the last couple of playoff spots. They will quickly get eliminated as they do not have the depth or star power to compete with the top teams.

 

 

 

The fourth event in the MLP season is in Austin beginning Thursday. There will be 11 teams competing in two pools with round robin play. Columbus is in Pool A and New Jersey in Pool B. They are heavy favorites to meet in the Sunday final. Pool A is extremely weak outside of Columbus, so they should cruise. Pool B includes likely playoff teams Dallas and Texas.

 

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