MLP has three events in a row, and we move now to the second one, MLP Phoenix. MLP Austin featured five teams playing a round robin. This week, we have seven teams in Phoenix, again for a round robin. The matches will start Thursday and conclude on Sunday. It was warm in Austin; Phoenix is going to be hot, albeit without the humidity. As we say here, it is a dry heat. The teams participating are LA, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Utah, SoCal, Dallas, and home team Phoenix.

 

 

The defending champion Dallas Flash enter on a hot streak. They are 8-0, with having scored 22 out of a possible 24 points. Their 2.75 point per game average trails only St. Louis’ near perfect 2.88 pace. MLP Phoenix presents Dallas with a huge opportunity. They face six opponents, with only Brooklyn considered even a mild threat to win it all. Five of the teams are either likely to miss the playoffs or be first round playoff casualties. After MLP Phoenix, Dallas will have played over half of their schedule for the year. Dallas has a real shot at going 6-0 in Phoenix and could even score the maximum of 18 points. I would be very surprised if Dallas scored any less than 16 points. They should be able to pretty well cement their status as a top two team for playoff positioning.

 

 

 

The six teams other than Dallas have a chance in Phoenix to separate themselves from the pack. But, can any of them do it? Brooklyn and LA are the most likely candidates. Brooklyn has a solid team of Dekel Bar, Riley Newman, Rachel Rohrabacher, and Jackie Kawamoto. As we have seen all year, it is tough to compete unless your team has top level women. Rohrabacher are Kawamoto are solid, albeit not quite top tier. For Newman, MLP Phoenix is a home game, so some pressure is on him to perform like a first round draft choice. Brooklyn needs to focus all four days and get at least 14 points. Anything less would be a lost opportunity. For LA, they will trot out Hunter Johnson, Quang Duong, Catherine Parenteau, and Jade Kawamoto. LA is similar to Brooklyn, with a decent but not top tier roster. The LA v. Brooklyn match opens MLP Phoenix on Thursday. The winner of that match will gain a lot of momentum for the weekend. LA, like Brooklyn, needs to get around 14 points to make a move.

 

 

 

The other four teams participating in MLP Phoenix are Utah, Atlanta, SoCal, and Phoenix. None of them have started the season well, although all have plenty of matches left to determine their destiny. Right now, none look like they are a playoff team, but MLP Phoenix will give them an opportunity to make a move. Pressure is particularly on Atlanta and Phoenix. After MLP Phoenix, both Atlanta and Phoenix will have played well more than half of their 2025 season, and if they have not made a move to get their points per match up to playoff level, they will just about be out of contention. Of these four lower ranked teams, none really have the rosters to do well in Phoenix. Their deficiency is exactly what we look at with every team; their women cannot compete with the better teams. I would like to pick an underdog from these four lower teams to have a breakout in Phoenix, but I cannot see any of them doing too much. Maybe Utah, as they do have veterans Tyler Loong and Connor Garnett who may be able to pull out a few wins.

 

 

 

A total of 63 team points are available for MLP Phoenix. The maximum for any one team is 18. Here’s how I see it playing out:

 

Dallas: 18 points. Yes, I expect Dallas to sweep all six opponents, by scores of 3-1 or 4-0. They are just too good, too deep. If any other team can even take Dallas to a DreamBreaker and lose, that will surprise me.

Brooklyn: 14 points. I like Brooklyn to step up, in particular Riley Newman to play well before his friends and family at home.

LA: 12 points. This assumes Hunter Johnson is 100%.

Utah: 8 points

Atlanta: 6 points

Phoenix: 3 points

SoCal: 2 points

 

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