This week’s Edward Jones MLP Miami by Margaritaville is the final event of the regular season, which means it’s the last chance for the thirteen competing teams to earn points as they fight to make the playoffs.

To make matters even more exciting, each one of the six Challenger teams competing still has a chance to make the postseason.

Let’s get down to business with everything Challenger in the Sunshine State.

Setting the stage

We’ll start with the six teams that will take to the courts with a spot in the playoffs on the line:

• Atlanta Bouncers: Jaume Martinez Vich, Todd Fought, Susannah Barr, Emily Cederquist
• Brooklyn Aces: Pablo Tellez, Daniel de la Rosa, Andrea Koop, Layne Sleeth
• Chicago Slice: Jack Munro, Brendon Long, Megan Fudge, Allison Harris
• Florida Smash: Travis Rettenmaier, Donald Young, Martina Frantova, Christa Gecheva
• Frisco Pandas: Michael Loyd, Stefan Auvergne, Ewa Radzikowska, Tammy Emmrich
• Miami Pickleball Club: Noe Khlif, Eric Oncins, Milan Rane, Bobbi Oshiro
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Now for a look at where each team sits in the standings, going by average points earned per match.

At 41 and 36 points respectively, the SoCal Hard Eights and Chicago Slice are the only teams that have clinched playoff spots.

Those two—plus Miami—seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, with Miami and Chicago both in good position to pull away and clinch the top two spots in the standings this weekend.

Doing so would give both teams a first-round bye in the playoffs and guarantee their promotion to the Premier level in 2025, since the four semifinal Challenger teams will be promoted at the end of the season.

A little farther down, we find the Las Vegas Night Owls. They're sitting at 35 points with no matches remaining after successfully defending their home court and going 3-0 last week in Sin City.

I believe that 35 mark is right around the ‘magic number’ teams will need to reach to make the playoffs.

There are four squads competing in Miami that have a shot at reaching—and in some cases, surpassing—that number: Atlanta, Brooklyn, Florida, and Frisco.

Let’s talk about each one.

All the details

Atlanta Bouncers: 29 points, 5 matches remaining

The Bouncers have the best shot of these four teams to make the playoffs. Ahead of Virginia Beach, they reworked their women’s doubles team and brought in former MLP teammates Susannah Barr and Emily Cederquist. They surprisingly went 0-6 together in women’s doubles at that event, but they shined in mixed doubles. Barr went 6-0 with Jaume Martinez Vich, while Cederquist went 4-2 with Todd Fought. Atlanta will look to have similar success in mixed and better results in gender doubles going into its final five regular season matches this weekend. It’s also worth mentioning that the Bouncers can steal the No. 3 spot from SoCal (41 points) if they score more than 12 points across those five matches, which would allow them to choose their quarterfinal opponent in the playoffs.

Brooklyn Aces: 28 points, 4 matches remaining

Brooklyn is the biggest question mark of all the teams going into Miami, as the Aces have been frustratingly inconsistent this season. They started off well and won the Mid-Season Tournament right after acquiring Pablo Tellez, but then followed that up with seven straight losses in New York and Virginia Beach. Andrea Koop joined the squad at the trade deadline to replace Lina Padegimaite, so she will play her first match for Brooklyn this weekend. She and Tellez should make a strong mixed doubles pairing as the Aces look to find their form again.

Florida Smash: 26 points, 4 matches remaining

The Smash have turned their season around since adding Donald Young and Christa Gecheva during Waiver Period 2. A big reason for that has been the team’s recent success in DreamBreakers; Florida is 5-1 in those contests since bringing in Young and Gecheva, a nice shift after dropping their first three DreamBreakers of the season. To pass 35 points in Miami, though, the Smash will have to get at least a few wins in regulation.

Frisco Pandas: 23 points, 4 matches remaining

The Pandas have the slimmest chance at making the playoffs out of any team still in the hunt. They will have to win each of their remaining matches in regulation just to tie Las Vegas at 35 points. If that happens, then the first tiebreaker (according to the 2024 MLP Competition Structure) would be Match Won percentage; the Night Owls have the edge there, thanks to an excellent 9-2 record in DreamBreakers. Thus, the Pandas would have to hope that at least two of the three previously mentioned teams finish either at or below 35 points to have a fighting chance. That’s a lot that has to go exactly right for Frisco, but the silver lining is that they don’t have to play Chicago, unlike their competition.

Where to watch

Every match from South Florida will be streamed on Pickleballtv and the MLP YouTube. Check it out starting Thursday to see who shines in crunch time in the 305.