MLP New York is now in the books. It featured upsets, DreamBreakers, and very close matches. In the end, New Jersey shut out Brooklyn 3-0 in the final to take home the 25 first-place standings points. With the season now a little bit more than half over, we can start to see the likely shape of the playoffs. Let’s separate fact from fiction in New York and make some educated guesses about the playoff seeding.

 

 

New Jersey gained 25 first-place standings points in New York. They gave their fans a scare though during group play. In the last match of group play, New Jersey lost to Texas in a hard-fought DreamBreaker, 21-19. Despite the loss, New Jersey still qualified first in their group, as Texas had previously lost to SoCal by an identical 21-19 DreamBreaker score, allowing New Jersey to win the standings tiebreaker. There are two ways to look at the loss to Texas. New Jersey had already sown up the tiebreaker win before the match, so arguably New Jersey was looking ahead to the final against Brooklyn. On the other hand, New Jersey played its starters against Texas, and the Achilles heel for New Jersey, inconsistent play by Noe Khlif and Will Howells, was on full display against Texas.

 

New Jersey did go on to sweep Brooklyn 3-0, with Khlif and Howells playing well. That netted first-place points and New Jersey consequently moved ahead of St. Louis into first place in the overall standings. Both New Jersey and St. Louis have played four of the their five pool events, with both needing to play the midseason tournament and then one more pool event. New Jersey has the inside track to finish as the regular season #1 seed, but it is by no means locked up.

 

 

New Jersey is built differently than St. Louis and it is an interesting debate about which team is #1. New Jersey has as close to an automatic game win as there is in women’s doubles. Anna Leigh Waters and Jorja Johnson have yet to lose in MLP 2026 and the odds are pretty good they will go undefeated this year. That gives New Jersey a huge advantage as they start every match up 1-0. But, New Jersey’s other three doubles teams are at least somewhat vulnerable. Khlif and Howells are a little better than 50/50 in men’s doubles with several good wins and several bad losses. Sunday in New York was a perfect example. Khlif/Howells lost 11-2 to Eric Oncins and Nico Acevedo, but then beat Christian Alshon and Riley Newman, 11-8. Both of New Jersey’s mixed teams have lost matches they were expected to win. So, New Jersey has great strengths but also weaknesses.

 

St. Louis, on the other hand, is super consistent. All four of St. Louis’ doubles teams are very good. On the other hand, none of the four is an automatic win. New Jersey has the higher ceiling, but also the lower floor. Which is the favorite? Chocolate or vanilla, you pick.

 

 

Texas fought its way to a third-place finish in New York. As previously mentioned the highlight was Texas winning a DreamBreaker over New Jersey. In the third place game, Texas beat Dallas 21-19 in a DreamBreaker in what was one of the most enjoyable matches for fans all week.

 

Texas is featuring a new look, following multiple trades. They now have Eric Oncins, Nico Acevedo, Lea Jansen, and Kaitlyn Christian. Christian is the latest addition. She was playing very poorly earlier this MLP season while playing for Atlanta. She clearly did not like playing left side next to Jessie Irvine, and now looks rejuvenated playing right side next to Jansen. Acevedo is an up and comer, but overall the team is way too inconsistent to be a threat to win it all. Beating New Jersey was a big win, take nothing away from it. But, to win the championship, Texas would have to defeat three of the top five teams in a row, each in a best two out of three format. That is just not going to happen.

 

 

 

Dallas came into New York needing to improve over their last MLP event in which they netted zero standings points. They did improve, finishing fourth and gaining a much needed 12 points. Dallas is now in eighth place and, barring a collapse, is going to make the playoffs.

 

In New York, Dallas played well in moments. They nearly upset Brooklyn, losing 23-21 in a great DreamBreaker that was probably the highlight of the event. But, Dallas also struggled against Palm Beach and even to lowly Carolina at times. 

 

Dallas is a poor man’s Texas; like Texas, they will make the playoffs, but even more so than Texas, Dallas lacks the consistency or firepower to beat three top teams in a row.

 

 

 

Before the 2026 season started, the top five teams were regarded as New Jersey, St. Louis, LA, Columbus, and Brooklyn. Now, with about 60% of the season finished, those are the top five teams in the standings. They are not only the top five, but they are easily the top five. Palm Beach sits in sixth, but it is almost mathematically impossible for Palm Beach to catch fifth place Columbus. To do so, Palm Beach would need to finish ahead of Columbus in the midseason tournament, AND Palm Beach would need to finish first or second in their final pool play event, AND Columbus would need to finish ninth or worse in their final pool play event. Not going to happen.

 

The battle within the top five will continue and will come down to the final MLP event. New Jersey has a slight lead over St. Louis, which in turn has a slight lead over LA. Columbus and Brooklyn trail the top three and are almost tied with each other. The gap between third place LA and fourth place Columbus is probably too large to make up. Columbus (or Brooklyn) would likely need to finish the midseason tournament several spots ahead of LA, and also win their final pool play events to stand a chance. LA and Brooklyn have two pool play events remaining and Columbus one.

 

 

LA does have a decent chance to catch St. Louis for second place. If LA can avoid losing ground to St. Louis in the midseason tournament, LA would need to finish with no worse than a first and a second in their two remaining pool play events, while St. Louis would need to finish second (or worse) in their one remaining pool play event. Things will be clearer after the midseason tournament.

 

With all that said, the final regular season standings will likely be New Jersey/St. Louis 1/2, LA three, Columbus/Brooklyn 4/5. The 4/5 teams will likely face each other in the quarterfinals. Finishing fourth will be important, as it gives that team home field advantage in picking lineups in their expected quarterfinal match. The advantage of finishing in the top three is that you get a weaker quarterfinal opponent. The top three will likely face Palm Beach, Texas, and Orlando or Dallas in the quarters. While anything can happen, you would much rather face those teams than a top five team.

 

 

The trade deadline was moved back to July 12. That is to give MLP the chance to implement the rumored salary cap/franchise tag system for 2027. If teams are allowed to keep players an extra year, that will likely take some big names off the trade block, such as Federico Staksrud and JW Johnson. But the devil is in the details. We have to wait and see those details to know how teams will likely react. Expect St. Louis, Columbus, and Brooklyn to stand pat with starters no matter what. LA and New Jersey are the two top teams that may see a trade.

 

Next up is the MLP Mid-Season Tournament beginning July 8. It will all be on Pickleballtv.

 

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