MLP Daytona Beach begins Thursday from Pictona at Holly Hill. Nine Premier teams will be in action, including top teams St. Louis, New Jersey, and Texas. Teams will be fighting for all-important standings points that will determine which teams make the playoffs and where they are seeded.

 

 

St. Louis and Dallas have been battling all season for the top spot in the standings. Both are undefeated. St. Louis has enjoyed a very small lead over Dallas in points per game, but Dallas kept the pressure on by going a perfect 6-0 with 18 team points at MLP Phoenix. St. Louis now plays six times in Daytona Beach. Can St. Louis match Dallas by going 6-0 with 18 points? St. Louis does not play New Jersey at MLP Daytona Beach, but they will be tested in matches against LA, Texas, and perhaps Carolina.

 

 

The biggest disappointment of the 2025 MLP season is without doubt the Carolina Hogs. They have overall #1 pick Ben Johns, but the team has lacked chemistry from the get go. Carolina sits in last place with an 0-8 record, and only two points. They will play six times in Florida, but five of those are against likely playoff teams. Can Carolina wake up and play to their potential? Or will MLP Daytona Beach confirm Carolina will miss the playoffs? Carolina realistically needs at least 10 points from their six matches to even get within shouting distance of a playoff run. Carolina will have played almost 60% of their season after this event, so this is really do or die time for the Hogs.

 

 

Playoff seeding is critical, so every match point at MLP Daytona Beach matters. The only thing separating Dallas and St. Louis in the standings is the fact that Dallas won one more match than St. Louis by way of a DreamBreaker. So even though both are undefeated, the loss of a single team point due to winning a match 3-2 instead of 3-1 is enough to separate the two top teams. New Jersey and Texas are solid playoff teams, but they need to grab every point they can in Florida to keep up their pace for a high playoff seed. LA and Utah helped themselves at MLP Phoenix by snagging 11 and 9 team points, respectively. Those points put both teams in the mix for a playoff spot. LA and Utah will look to earn at least eight points in Florida to keep up a playoff pace.

 

 

The action starts on Thursday with three matches, New York v. Utah, LA v. St. Louis, and Utah v. New Jersey. Utah will be a big favorite in the first match, while St. Louis and New Jersey will be big favorites in the next two matches. In matches like this, the pressure is on the favored team to not just win, but win 3-1 or 4-0 in order to secure three points instead of two. For the underdog, even losing in a DreamBreaker is a victory of sorts.

 

On Friday, there are seven matches. Carolina and Ben Johns are in action twice, once against Texas and then against St. Louis in the last match of the day. These are two tough assignments for Carolina, but when you have the best player on your team, big things are expected. Can Carolina at least force a DreamBreaker in one of these matches?

 

Saturday brings us a full slate of eight matches, so it will be a great day to get out to Pictona to watch some pickleball. Texas will be playing LA. This is a battle between two teams that should solidly be in the playoffs. Quang Duong helped Texas to the playoffs in 2024, but now he is part of the LA Mad Drops. Can Duong help to defeat his old team?

 

Finally, on Sunday there are eight more matches, highlighted early by Texas v St. Louis. This could well be a preview of a semifinal playoff matchup. The teams are fairly evenly matched and each of the four doubles matches should be close. The last match of the day will be Carolina v. New Jersey. That gives us a chance to see Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters playing on opposite sides of the court. Hopefully, they will play against each other in mixed doubles.

 

 

I correctly predicted Dallas would go a perfect 6-0 with 18 points at MLP Phoenix.

Can we hit the same success for MLP Daytona Beach?

 

St. Louis
17 points, 6-0. I have them winning in a DreamBreaker over Texas.

New Jersey
15 points, 5-0. New Jersey only plays five times, and does not play St. Louis, Texas, or LA.

Texas
15 points

LA
10 points

Utah
8 points

Chicago
5 points

Carolina
3 points

New York
2 points

SoCal
1 point

 

Watch it all on Pickleballtv.

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates duting the event.