The first round of the MLP Playoffs from Dallas featured all four favored teams advancing. But, there were plenty of close matches. Unfortunately, as they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Texas, Palm Beach, Dallas, and Brooklyn all received scares from their underdog opponents, but all four did enough to advance to the quarterfinals in Newport Beach.

 

 

Brooklyn had their pick of opponents in the first round of the playoffs. Losing would be bad enough, but the last thing you want to do is lose to your hand-picked adversary.

 

All matchups in the first round were best two out of three matches. In the first match, SoCal shocked favored Brooklyn by winning women’s doubles and mixed #2 by identical 12-10 scores. Only the heroic play of Christian Alshon kept Brooklyn alive, with his two victories forcing a DreamBreaker. In the DreamBreaker, SoCal’s Rafa Lenhard and Will MacKinnon faced the daunting task of playing against two of the best singles players in the entire world in Brooklyn’s Alshon and Chris Haworth. But, Lenhard and MacKinnon kept their team in the game. Only the spectacular play of Jackie Kawamoto was enough to save Brooklyn from an embarrassing upset, with Brooklyn escaping 24-22. In the second match, SoCal again won women’s doubles and entered mixed #2 looking to force another DreamBreaker. MacKinnon and Cailyn Campbell hung tough against Kawamoto and Riley Newman. At a key point, with Kawamoto and Newman leading 6-4-2, Campbell and MacKinnon missed calling a ball out, losing the point and the next two points. The resulting 9-4-2 lead was too much for SoCal to come back from and Brooklyn had their 3-1 victory. Subsequent replays showed the ball had very clearly been out. Would a correct call have changed the outcome? We will never know, but that’s sports. Brooklyn on to the quarterfinals.

 

 

 

Dallas, like Brooklyn, skipped choosing #12 Chicago, instead picking Las Vegas. In their first match, Las Vegas came out firing, winning women’s doubles. Then, in men’s doubles, Las Vegas seemed to have the match in hand, which would have led to a 2-0 lead. But JW Johnson led the charge back, saving several key points. Dallas ultimately prevailed 12-10 to even the match at one apiece. After that, the air in the Vegas balloon popped, Dallas won the mixed matches easily, and had the first match 3-1.

 

The second match was all Dallas. Las Vegas could only manage to score three points in three matches. Dallas had an easy 3-0 win, and Dallas was off to the quarterfinals.

 

 

 

In what would turn out to be a feisty rivalry, Palm Beach took on Chicago. In their first match, every game was tight. Women’s doubles went 12-10 to Palm Beach. Men’s doubles was 11-5 for Palm Beach. In mixed #1, John Lucian Goins continued his stellar play in the playoffs, pairing with Jamie Wei to take down the highly regarded pair of Dekel Bar and Tina Pisnik 11-8. That left mixed #2 as the decider, and it was close all the way. Palm Beach pulled it out 11-9, and had the victory 3-1.

 

The second match was similar. The first three games went 2-1 for Palm Beach, again leaving it to mixed #2 to decide things. The match was unfortunately marred by an exchange of angry words by Zane Navratil directed at the Palm Beach bench. After tempers flared, the referees calmed things down. Palm Beach eked out the victory 11-9 to gain another 3-1 victory. Palm Beach was through to the quarterfinals.

 

 

 

The closest matchup was expected to be Texas against Atlanta and they did not disappoint us. Atlanta came out firing, winning both gender doubles in the first match. But give Texas credit. They fought back, winning both mixed doubles games, with the second one being a 12-10 nailbiter. In the DreamBreaker, the Texas women’s duo of Lea Jansen/Kaitlyn Christian was too much for Atlanta. The women led Texas to a 21-14 win.

 

In the second match, the teams traded wins back and forth again. This time, Atlanta won a close mixed #2 game to force yet another DreamBreaker. This second DreamBreaker was very similar to the first DreamBreaker, with the Texas women’s duo being just too much for Atlanta to handle. This time, Texas won 21-11. Texas was on to the quarterfinals.

 

 

 

The four underdogs all put up a good fight. They had opportunities to win matches, but just could not close. In the end, the four favorites did what they needed to do to win. SoCal, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Atlanta all had highlights and things they can build on for next year. For SoCal, their young players got better and they fought hard in Dallas, even without their best player, Armaan Bhatia. Las Vegas was inconsistent, but their highs were very good. Can they find consistency in 2027? Chicago fought hard just to make the playoffs. When they got there, their play exceeded expectations, led by the play of John Lucian Goins, one of the top breakout players of 2026. Atlanta was a veteran team, that just could not quite win a third game against Texas. Their weakness at DreamBreakers, relative to Texas, was their undoing.

 

Brooklyn, Dallas, Palm Beach, and Texas can all celebrate their wins. But not for long. The next round in Newport Beach starts Friday, August 14. The four teams moving on now have to put aside the fun of winning to focus on the difficult task of beating New Jersey, St. Louis, LA, or Columbus. Can any of the underdogs put together another win? Tune in to Pickleballtv to see it all.

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates.