The next MLP stop is in St. Louis, beginning Thursday. The hometown Shock will of course be in action in front of their St. Louis fans, along with 10 other teams. As usual, the teams will be divided into two groups, with a round robin occurring in each group. The winners of each group will face each other for the event championship, with the second, third, and fourth place teams also playing each other for ranking points.

 

Let’s go over each group and figure out the likely results.

 

 

Brooklyn Pickleball Team, Las Vegas Night Owls, LA Mad Drops, Phoenix Flames, SoCal Hard Eights, and Utah Black Diamonds.

 

Brooklyn and SoCal take the court for their first MLP event of 2026. Brooklyn’s big addition is Christian Alshon, and he will team with Riley Newman for a formidable men’s doubles team. On the women’s side, Brooklyn has Rachel Rohrabacher and Jackie Kawamoto, a top team. Brooklyn’s starters are all solid at mixed doubles, so Brooklyn will have four good doubles teams. Brooklyn will sub in Chris Haworth and Hannah Blatt for Newman and Kawamoto in a DreamBreaker, so they are pretty good there, too.  Brooklyn is an all-veteran team, so one thing to watch for is their energy level. Veteran players sometimes lack that high energy level, which we have seen benefit many MLP teams. Talent-wise, they are top five and a championship threat.

 

SoCal is an interesting team. They feature Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell, Armaan Bhatia, and Will Mackinnon. Subs are Naomi Nguyen and Rafa Lenhard. Bhatia is very smooth and underrated. Mackinnon has crazy talent, but is very undisciplined and inconsistent. He will drive you crazy by hitting three shots better than anything from Ben Johns, and then he will miss five shots that a 3.0 would be embarrassed to miss. Campbell is an up and comer on the women’s side, while Dizon is solid when she focuses. Lenhard will help at DreamBreakers. Overall, SoCal is not a playoff team, but they can win some matches.

 

Las Vegas has played one event, with a fifth place finish. They have Callie Smith, Zoey Wang, Liz Truluck, Blaine Hovenier, Roscoe Bellamy, and Braden Jacobson. Vegas is similar in skill to SoCal, maybe a little better, and is more consistent due to the experience of the players. Expect Vegas to beat the weaker teams and lose to the better teams. They do not have the firepower to upset good teams.

 

LA comes off a win at MLP Dallas where they were undefeated. LA has Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Catherine Parenteau, and Jade Kawamoto. They bring in Gabe Joseph for Freeman in a DreamBreaker. Everyone on LA played well in Dallas. If they play at that same level, they will win this event. Johns played with good effort, Freeman was solid, and the Parenteau/Kawamoto duo played just as they did to open the 2025 season: great! Can all four keep it up? That is the question.

 

Phoenix has revamped their roster a bit with trades. Their roster is now Jonathan Truong, Wyatt Stone, Cam Chaffin, Alix Truong, Alexa Schull, and Daria Walczak. Alix Truong will help a weak women’s lineup. The men’s side is young and capable of an upset here and there. Overall, this team lacks the firepower to compete. They might score a win off SoCal, but that is about it.

 

Finally, Utah will go with Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Etta Tuionetoa, and Allyce Jones. They have Tyler Loong and Victoria DiMuzio as subs. Utah was a disappointing 8th at MLP Dallas. They should be a low playoff team, but they did not play like it in Dallas. Garnett and Jones always play with 100% effort. Shimabukuro is the best young player on the men’s side. Tuionetoa has been in decline for some time, but used to be a top 6 or 7 player not that long ago. This team should do better than an 8th place finish.

 

 

Group B contains five teams, Atlanta Bouncers, Bay Area Breakers, Orlando Squeeze, Palm Beach Royals, and the St. Louis Shock.

 

Atlanta fields Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Jessie Irvine, and Kaitlyn Christian. They finished sixth at MLP Columbus. This is another veteran team that struggles with their energy level. Devilliers was fine at Columbus, but it looked like he wanted to strangle his partners in frustration at their effort level. Irvine looked like she was at the dentist. Martinez Vich played both carefree and careless. Christian just played poorly. They were lucky to finish sixth. This team should be solidly in the lower end of playoff teams, but they need to play with more than minimal effort.

 

Bay Area’s roster is Genie Erokhina, Mya Bui, Ella Yeh, Luc Pham, Len Yang, and Pablo Tellez. Bay Area played at MLP Dallas and was able to win one match, losing four. They are unlikely to win any matches in St. Louis.

 

Orlando has Jack Sock, Federico Staksrud, Milan Rane, and Lacy Schneemann. Subs are Alex Walker and Yates Johnson. Orlando went 2-2 at MLP Dallas, finishing seventh. Their key match this week will be against Palm Beach, in what will probably determine who finishes second in the group.

 

Palm Beach had a good opening event in Columbus, finishing fourth. They have Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Grayson Goldin, Sofia Sewing, Tammy Emmrich, and Tina Pisnik. Sewing showed well in her first ever MLP event. Surprisingly, their weak point was Pisnik. Everyone else played about to their expected level, but Pisnik played poorly. Palm Beach plays Pisnik on the left in women’s doubles, which is a mistake. Pisnik’s strength is consistency, but she lacks power to put balls away consistently. Sewing is 20 years younger and is a stronger player at this point. Watch to see if Palm Beach makes a switch to put Sewing on the left. Palm Beach can beat everyone in the group but St. Louis, so they have potential for another fourth place finish.

 

The final team in Group B is the favorite, St. Louis. St. Louis finished third at Dallas and second at Columbus. Their only losses are to other teams ranked in the top five, so nothing to panic about. St. Louis has Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Hayden Patriquin, and Gabe Tardio. This is a top talent team that is capable of easily beating anyone. So far, Patriquin has not played up to his normal very high level. He is trying to cover too much court, which leads to him being out of position and inconsistency. He needs to yield some court to Bright and Tardio, who are obviously great players, too. It would be a major upset if St. Louis does not sweep Group B easily. Can they then beat LA (or Brooklyn)?

 

 

In Group A, look for LA to go undefeated, but they will be pushed by Brooklyn. An upset there is by no means out of the question. Las Vegas and Utah will fight for third place. Utah is the better team, but Vegas tends to have better energy. SoCal and Phoenix will have a chance to win a match when they play each other, but that is about that.

 

In Group B, St. Louis should cruise. The only thing that can stop them is their own mental frame of mind. Palm Beach vs. Orlando is a super interesting match. Very even. I slightly favor Orlando, but that will be a very fun match to watch. Atlanta should finish fourth, and Bay Area will go home without a win.

 

In the playoffs, we are very likely to see LA vs. St. Louis. This is a match which could easily be a championship final preview. LA’s players are playing very well, as they did to start 2025, but they faded as the year went along. Will 2026 be a repeat? It’s early, so I will go with LA, but this match is a coin flip.

 

All the matches will be on Pickleballtv. Brooklyn vs. LA is on Friday as is Palm Beach vs. Orlando, so make sure you are watching that day.

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates.