The 2026 MLP season moves into the first round of the playoffs, beginning Friday from Dallas. Teams finishing fifth through 12th will compete for spots in the quarterfinals to be held beginning August 14 in Newport Beach. The playoff format consists of best two-out-of-three matches.

 

Let’s go over each of the four matchups and try to predict the winners.

 

 

Brooklyn is the highest finishing team which did not get a first round bye, so they had choice of opponent. They passed on 12th place Chicago to go with 10th place SoCal. The reason is that SoCal’s best player, Armaan Bhatia, is out with a knee injury.

 

Brooklyn’s starters are Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Riley Newman, and Christian Alshon. For DreamBreakers, they put in Chris Haworth and Hannah Blatt. 

 

SoCal will go with Cailyn Campbell, Meghan Dizon, Will MacKinnon, and Rafa Lenhard. They sub in Naomi Nguyen for DreamBreakers.

 

Brooklyn obviously has a big edge. The loss of Bhatia is huge. No disrespect to Lenhard, but Bhatia was starting to look like a player with top 10 potential before he was injured. Brooklyn’s men are just too good, and both Newman and Alshon are studs at mixed doubles. Rohrabacher should be 100% for Dallas, and she and Kawamoto are a top team. If SoCal has an advantage, it may be at DreamBreakers, but it is hard to see SoCal getting to a DreamBreaker. Expect Brooklyn to sweep, 2-0, with little trouble.

 

 

 

Dallas passes on #12 Chicago to take on #11 Las Vegas. I would have picked Chicago, but neither Vegas nor Chicago should be difficult for Dallas, which has been playing as well as any team lately. Las Vegas will be riding high from their performance at MLP Orlando, but they will need to refocus, as Dallas will give them all they can handle.

 

Dallas will presumably stick with their regular season lineup of Alix Truong and Danni-Elle Townsend for women’s doubles, JW Johnson and Augie Ge for men’s doubles, with Brooke Buckner then subbing in for Truong in mixed doubles. Townsend has been great for Dallas, and Johnson is an MVP candidate. Ge has been super steady. Buckner has been solid as a mixed partner with Johnson. The women’s doubles pair of Truong/Townsend has been decent, but beatable. Dallas is also better than expected at DreamBreakers; although Johnson and Ge are not top 20 singles players on the PPA tour, at four points at a time, they battle very well.

 

Las Vegas starts Zoey Wang, Callie Smith, Roscoe Bellamy, and Clayton Powell. They bring in Liz Truluck and Gabe Joseph for DreamBreakers. Vegas’ current lineup is relatively new. Powell is an up and comer and is underrated. Bellamy is very inconsistent, but if he plays well, his length can give opponents fits. Wang and Smith are veterans, who we can expect to play solid pikcleball. Their DreamBreaker team matches up well against Dallas, but as with the Brooklyn vs. SoCal matchup, the question is whether Vegas can win two doubles games to get to a DreamBreaker. On paper, this looks like a 2-0 sweep for Dallas.

 

 

 

Palm Beach easily defeated Las Vegas in one of the last matches at MLP Orlando and was probably hoping for a rematch. But, Dallas picked Vegas, so Palm Beach settled for Chicago. Palm Beach rested starters in Orlando, as that event could not change their #7 seeding. Chicago, meanwhile, was one of the big stories of MLP Orlando. They entered the event on the outside looking in, but came up with a huge pool play win over California, and then another big win on Super Sunday over Miami. Both wins were in DreamBreakers. No team will be happier to make it to Dallas than Chicago.

 

Palm Beach starts Sofia Sewing, Tina Pisnik, Dekel Bar, and Tyson McGuffin. They tend to sub in Casey Diamond for McGuffin for mixed. Palm Beach has relied all year on the Sewing/Pisnik duo. They have been dominant. Bar has not played up to his talent. McGuffin has been solid, as he always is. Diamond has experience playing wth Sewing, but you have to wonder if they would not be better with the veteran McGuffin. Diamond has played better than expected, but will the pressure of the playoffs hurt him? 

 

Chicago starts Elsie Hendershot and Jamie Wei. On the men’s side, they have switched around some between John Lucian Goins, Zane Navratil, and AJ Koller, with Navratil expected to play men’s doubles and Koller mixed doubles. The last two MLP events, Koller outplayed Navratil, and it was not particularly close. Koller is an underrated player, and his results are very much tied to his level of interest. Lately, he has been locked in and thus playing his best. I do not expect it to happen, but I do think Chicago should play Koller in men’s doubles over Navratil. Gotta go with the hot hand, especially as an underdog. For DreamBreakers, Chicago has had the magic touch. Goins has played out of his mind in DreamBreakers; he has been the single best player lately in those matchups, constantly saving his team. If Chicago can get to a DreamBreaker, they will be super confident.

 

Watch the women’s doubles match in the Palm Beach vs. Chicago matches. If Chicago can win that match, it would shake the confidence of Palm Beach. The problem is that it is a tough task. This is another matchup that looks like a 2-0 sweep, but you have to wonder if the magic Chicago found in Orlando can be recreated in Dallas.

 

 

 

Texas gets the leftovers and is forced to play Atlanta, a team that played its best at the end of the season. Both teams underwent a fair amount of change in their lineups during the season, but have now settled on lineups that make sense.

 

Texas starts Lea Jansen, Kaitlyn Christian, Eric Oncins, and Nico Acevedo. Christian played poorly earlier in the year, but has been better with Texas after a trade. Jansen has been adequate. Oncins is their best player, but can be inconsistent. Acevedo was a find by Miami GM Johnny Goldberg, who traded him to Texas for big cash. Acevedo is a rising player, but he is still learning the game at this level. Texas has what should be a good lineup for DreamBreakers, although it is not reflected in their record.

 

Atlanta starts Mari Humberg, Jessie Irvine, Jay Devilliers, and Jaume Martinez Vich. They sub in Keilly Ulery for DreamBreakers. Atlanta now has a lineup that works. Humberg needs to be on the left in women’s doubles, and Irvine has to be on the right. Devilliers and Martinez Vich have played together a lot and can beat anyone, if they play their best. Atlanta matches up well with Texas in doubles. In a DreamBreaker, Atlanta’s men have to get a lead, as the Jansen/Christian duo has a big advantage.

 

Of the four matchups, this is the one to watch for an upset. Atlanta is playing the best of the four underdogs and has the best players of those four teams. The question for Atlanta is motivation. Irvine has had MLP events where she has played very hard, while others where she looked to be sleepwalking through it. Devilliers and Martinez Vich always have fun playing, but they need to play well for Atlanta to win. For Texas, it is mainly about playing to their potential. Jansen and Christian both can be affected by pressure, while Oncins and Acevedo have consistency issues. If Texas plays well, they should win; if they do not, Atlanta is good enough to take advantage and win. You have to like Texas, but this one could have a couple DreamBreakers and/or be a 2-1 result.

 

The four winning teams will advance to Newport Beach where New Jersey, St. Louis, LA, and Columbus await them. The four teams with a bye will be favored in Newport Beach, but as we saw in 2025 with Columbus, a team can get hot and make a run. Will a team get on a roll in 2026? Tune in to Pickleballtv to see it all!

 

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