MLP moves on to St. Louis this week starting Thursday. Following up on a successful Mid-Season Tournament, MLP returns to a regular season event, but not just any regular season event. MLP St. Louis is a six-team round robin that features four of the top five teams! MLP St. Louis includes top-ranked Dallas, #2 St. Louis, #4 Columbus, and #5 Brooklyn. All four of those teams are competing for every point for playoff positioning. Also in St. Louis will be Atlanta and Chicago, two teams desperate for the points they need to make the playoffs. Chicago clings to the 10th and last playoff spot, and Atlanta is only one win out of the playoffs. Teams in urgent mode make for close matches and thrilling action.

 

 

Day one of MLP St. Louis opens with Chicago taking on Atlanta. It is one of the most important matches of the whole event, so it should be quite the leadoff match. If Atlanta can win 3-1 or 4-0, they will leap ahead of Chicago for the 10th and final playoff spot. Conversely, a win for Chicago and they increase their lead over 11th place Carolina. With both teams having to next play the four playoff teams, this opening match is by far the best chance for Atlanta and Chicago to net some points.

 

 

Friday begins the head-to-head play between the big boys. Dallas will take on Brooklyn and St. Louis is playing Columbus. Neither Dallas nor St. Louis has had much trouble with the other teams, but both Brooklyn and Columbus trot out four high quality doubles pairs. Dallas and St. Louis are better than Brooklyn and Columbus at DreamBreakers, but the margins are all small. One match finishing 11-9 instead of 9-11 can easily be the difference between a team win and a team loss. Brooklyn and Columbus need every point as they are fighting with New Jersey for the third through fifth spots. A third or fourth place finish in the regular season guarantees the team at least one “home” game in the playoffs, meaning the team can pick the order of mixed doubles play. In closely contested matches between top teams, being able to chose the order of play in mixed doubles can be the difference between a 3-1 win and a 2-2 tie needing a DreamBreaker.

 

 

 

The highlight of Saturday is the highlight of the whole event and the whole regular season. The last match of Saturday is Dallas against home team St. Louis. Dallas will look to continue the roll they have been on all season, while St. Louis is out to avenge their 3-1 loss to Dallas in the Mid-Season Tournament. In Grand Rapids, Dallas got to choose the lineups for mixed and chose to go with the #1 teams against each other and the #2 teams against each other. As the match was tied 1-1 at the time, this strategy indicated that Dallas believes St. Louis has an edge in DreamBreakers. At MLP St. Louis, St. Louis will get to choose the mixed lineup; will they go with the #1 teams head-to-head, or will they go #1 vs. #2? It will, of course, depend on the outcome of the two gender doubles matches. If it is tied 1-1 after gender doubles, look for St. Louis to have Gabe Tardio and Kate Fahey play the JW and Jorja Johnson, with St. Louis looking to get to a DreamBreaker.

 

Dallas and St. Louis are very evenly matched. Dallas has a slight edge at women’s doubles, with St. Louis having a slight edge at men’s doubles. In mixed, the Jorja and JW Johnson is the best mixed pair in MLP. But Tardio for St. Louis is the best player on any #2 mixed team. In a DreamBreaker, St. Louis has a very slight edge, but all eight players on both teams are above average (or better) singles players. It all makes for a super high-quality match that can go either way. The edge in any one match is exceedingly small, and thus the outcome is unpredictable.

 

 

The big match on Sunday is Brooklyn vs. Columbus. This match could well be a preview of a #4 vs. #5 playoff match we will see in August. Again, the outcome of this match is very important to both teams as whoever finishes fourth gets to choose the mixed lineup in a playoff game. Brooklyn’s strength is their two mixed pairs, both of which are capable of beating anyone. One question will be whether Dekel Bar can return to action for Brooklyn. He has missed two MLP events and AJ Koller has filled in very well. But Bar had been playing like a top 10 player before his injury, so Brooklyn will want him back. The star of the Brooklyn team has been Rachel Rohrabacher, who has elevated her play from the first half of the year.

 

For Columbus, the outcome of the Mid-Season Tournament was a disappointment. They lost a couple of close matches and ended up not even making the bronze medal match. Columbus will need to set aside that poor result and get back to their winning ways.

 

 

 

 

 

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5. Predictions 

 

it is likely to be a tough MLP for Atlanta and Chicago. They are very likely to be swept by Dallas, St. Louis, Columbus, and Brooklyn. Even getting to one DreamBreaker in any of those matches will not be easy. I will take Chicago to defeat Atlanta in their head-to-head match.

 

For the four top playoff teams, anything could happen. Dallas and St. Louis have been beating up on everyone, but a loss by either to Columbus or Brooklyn should surprise no one. I won’t predict it, but this MLP is so difficult that either Dallas or St. Louis could lose a couple of matches.

 

I will go with Atlanta to be shut out, Chicago to get 3 points from the Atlanta win, and St. Louis to sweep. 

 

St. Louis: 14 points

Dallas: 13 points

Columbus: 8 points

Brooklyn: 7 points

Chicago: 3 points

Atlanta: 0 points

 

All the action will be on Pickleballtv, and with so many great matches, you won’t want to miss any of it.

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim.