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Looking back on the best moments from the 2025 MLP season
With Major League Pickleball announcing its 2026 event schedule on Monday, now seems like an appropriate time to reflect on a memorable 2025 campaign.
The 2025 season brought new rules, new rosters, and new events to MLP that made for some of the biggest moments in the league’s short history.
Let’s revisit (some of) the best moments from the 2025 MLP season.
June 27, MLP San Clemente: Jack Sock’s ATP reaches No. 1 on SportsCenter’s Top 10
In a match between the Phoenix Flames and Utah Black Diamonds at MLP San Clemente, the Flames’ Jack Sock hit an unbelievable inside-out ATP.
The shot from the former tennis star made it to the No. 1 spot in SportsCenter’s Top 10, only solidifying his reputation as one of the most electrifying athletes in pickleball.
July 4, MLP New York: Yuta Funemizu becomes first Japanese player to record a game win in MLP
In the Miami Pickleball Club’s 4-0 victory over the New York Hustlers at MLP New York, Yuta Funemizu became the first Japanese player to record a game win in Major League Pickleball.
The former soft tennis world champion went on to play a key role in Miami’s run to the playoffs, where they nearly upset the Texas Ranchers in the first round.
July 20, MLP St. Louis: AJ Koller ends Brooklyn stint with massive win over Columbus
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Even though AJ Koller was never a full-time member of the Brooklyn Pickleball Team, he played 37 games across 19 matches for the squad during the 2025 season while filling in for the injured Dekel Bar and Pat Smith.
His final match proved to be a big one, as he helped Brooklyn earn a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Sliders at MLP St. Louis in what was the last regular season contest for both squads.
That win helped Brooklyn leapfrog Columbus and take the No. 4 seed heading into the playoffs and was a special sendoff moment for Koller, who grew up in St. Louis himself.
Koller ended his season with a 22-15 record for Brooklyn and is regarded as an honorary member of the squad.
July 26, MLP Dallas: Crowd goes wild as former partners Waters, Parenteau clash in DreamBreaker
The matchup between Anna Leigh Waters’ New Jersey 5s and Catherine Parenteau’s LA Mad Drops at MLP Dallas had all the makings of an epic before players even took the court.
It was LA’s first event since acquiring Ben Johns in a controversial trade that made the Mad Drops instant contenders, and it was New Jersey’s first event with Noe Khlif in the starting lineup.
It’s fitting, then, that the contest went to a DreamBreaker.
And it’s even poetic that Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau, whose legendary PPA Tour partnership had ended earlier in the year when Waters dropped Parenteau for Anna Brght, took the court to battle with the score tied at 20-20.
The crowd recognized the magnitude of the moment and let out a deafening roar in one of the most surreal moments in the history of professional pickleball.
Relive the encounter below:
August 24, MLP Finals: Columbus ends extraordinary postseason run with a title
The Columbus Sliders captured the 2025 season title with a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey 5s in the deciding match of the championship series, bringing an end to the most impressive postseason run in Major League Pickleball history.
The Sliders adopted the motivating nickname of ‘The Chosen Ones’ because, well, they were chosen.
The defending champion Dallas Flash first picked to play against Columbus in the quarterfinals, a decision that led to the Flash’s demise but also gave fans a memorable series of three consecutive DreamBreakers.
The same thing happened in the semifinals, where the top-seeded St. Louis Shock chose to play Columbus but eventually fell in two matches.
And in the final, the Sliders dropped the first match against New Jersey but came back to win the next two and end their fairytale run with a title.
What a performance from Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Parris Todd, and Lea Jansen.
November 1, MLP Cup: Junior All-Stars impress at MLP Cup
For the first time in the history of Major League Pickleball, an all-junior team competed at an event.
The squad—featuring Ella Yeh, Elsie Hendershot, Camden Chaffin, and Tama Shimabukuro—competed in the Challenger bracket at the inaugural MLP Cup and put together a massively impressive performance.
With ages ranging from 12 to 15, the Junior All-Stars held their own in matches against the Bay Area Breakers and D.C. Pickleball Team. Notably, they forced a DreamBreaker against Bay Area by winning both mixed doubles games, despite falling 16-21 in the end.
This was just another sign that the future of professional pickleball is in fully capable hands with the sport’s youth movement.
November 1, MLP Cup: Zoey Weil helps New Jersey reach MLP Cup semifinals as on-site alternate
With both Anna Leigh Waters and Meghan Dizon unavailable for the New Jersey 5s, on-site alternate Zoey Weil stepped in and helped New Jersey reach the semifinals of the MLP Cup.
Weil had several strong moments, including outscoring Catherine Parenteau 6-2 in a must-win DreamBreaker for New Jersey in pool play.
And in the semifinals against the Dallas Flash, she teamed up with Mari Humberg to score a stunning 11-9 victory over Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black in women’s doubles.
It was a great weekend for Weil, who should be on an MLP roster in 2026.
2025 was a special year for Major League Pickleball, and plenty more memorable moments will surely be on tap for 2026.
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