The 2026 MLP season is set to kick off in Dallas on May 22. A total of 20 teams will participate this year, with 12 making the playoffs. The 2025 champion Columbus Sliders are back, with Danni-Elle Townsend taking the place of Lea Jansen, while St. Louis and New Jersey look like the favorites. We will review in depth all 20 teams, with predictions of which teams will make the playoffs. The first 10 are previewed here, starting from the bottom and working our way up to the #1 ranked team. We will list the four starters and then any relevant subs for each team. Every team plays 23 total matches, so each team will be analyzed, with a predicted record.

 

20. Florida Smash: Cason Campbell, Chris Crouch, Zoey Weil, Martina Frantova. Subs: Travis Rettenmaier, Paula Rives. Florida spent almost no money in the offseason, and it shows as they trot out the worst team in MLP. Weil has some talent, but Frantova (or Rives) is the worst female starter in the league, and you cannot win at MLP without strong women. Campbell and Crouch have some upside, but this team is going nowhere. Predicted record: 1-22

 

19. Carolina Hogs: James Delgado, DJ Young, Angie Walker, Allison Phillips. Once again, the women starters are too weak to compete. Delgado and Young are decent players, but neither has shown much enthusiasm for MLP. And in MLP, enthusiasm matters, a lot. Florida and Carolina are in a bottom tier as those two teams are quite a bit worse than any other team. It is possible that one of these teams could go the entire season without winning a match. Predicted record: 2-21

 

18. Phoenix Flames: Jonathan Truong, Wyatt Stone, Judit Castillo, Daria Walczak, Subs: Cam Chaffin, Alexa Schull. Castillo is decent, but Walczak will lag. Truong and Stone are both young, with potential. Stone is always underrated. The youth on the team should bring some energy, so they will be competitive in many matches. I do not expect them to win a lot, but they should lose a lot of close games. Predicted record: 6-17

 

 

17. California Black Bears: Michael Loyd, Luca Mack, Sahra Dennehy, Kiora Kunimoto. Subs: Anouar Braham, Emma Nelson. This is a very young team, so they should be energetic and positive. That will help them stay in many matches. Dennehy and Kunimoto are better at singles than doubles, so I expect them to lose a lot of matches 3-1, but they will be trouble in a Dreambreaker. The men are not strong, so this team will go as far as the potential of their women can take them. They should be much improved by the end of the season. Predicted record: 6-17

 

16. Miami Pickleball Club: Yuta Funemizu, Nico Acevedo, Isabella Dunlap, Estee Widdershoven. Subs: Clayton Powell, Aiko Yoshitomi. This is an interesting team made up of players on the rise. The Miami owners tend to not spend much money, but the GM is Johnny Goldberg and he is the best GM in MLP. He does a better job than anyone else in identifying up and coming players. Many teams are poorly run, with GMs picking players who do not fit well with their teammates. Miami does a very good job at understanding left vs. right side play and players who mix well together. Acevedo is strictly a left side player; Funemizu is strictly right side. So, Miami picked Powell, who has versatility to play both sides. Watch for Funemizu to play men’s doubles with Acevedo, but have Powell come in for Funemizu in mixed. Dunlap is coming on lately. This team will depend on Widdershoven or Yoshitomi improving. Another team that will get better as the season goes along. I do not have them making the playoffs, but they are the one bottom six team that I could see making a surprising jump up the standings. Predicted record: 8-15

 

15. Bay Area Breakers: Pablo Tellez, Luc Pham, Mya Bui, Genie Erokhina. Subs: Len Yang, Ella Yeh. Tellez is a very solid player, Pham and Yang are ok, but this is another team that will lag due to the women. They should beat the weaker teams, but will lose to the better teams. I do not see much upside with this team. Predicted record: 8-15

 

 

14. SoCal Hard Eights: Armaan Bhatia, Will MacKinnon, Meghan Dizon, Cailyn Campbell. Subs: Rafa Lenhard, Naomi Nguyen. With SoCal on up, we are now into the teams who are solid threats to make the top 12 and the playoffs. The bottom six teams are unlikely to make the playoffs or be a threat to do so. These next five teams are all pretty equal. Bhatia is good. MacKinnon is very talented, but plays with little to no patience. Lenhard is a good sub. But, all three are best on the left. With the women, all three are best on the right, forcing Campbell to play left in women’s doubles. This team is an example of a GM not knowing the players’ strengths and weaknesses. But the team does have talent and youth, so they will be competitive. Predicted record: 10-13

 

13. Chicago Slice: Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, Jamie Wei. Mari Humberg. Subs: Tom Protzek, Jalina Ingram. An interesting mix of veteran players and up and comers. Navratil is a good coach/mentor for the newer players. Wei and Humberg are both much better on the left than the right, so the team will have some partner matchup issues. But all six players are fairly equal, so they can mix and match as the season goes along to try to find the best combinations. A deep team, but with no high end players. Predicted record: 10-13

 

12. Las Vegas Night Owls: Blaine Hovenier, Roscoe Bellamy, Zoey Wang, Brooke Buckner. Sub: Liz Truluck. A solid stating four, well balanced, although lacking any stars. Wang and Buckner have played together a lot, so they will be competitive. Hovenier brings great energy to MLP and is arguably the best teammate in the league. This team will fight in every match and is likely to score a few upsets. They are also solid in Dreambreakers. Predicted record: 11-12

 

11. Atlanta Bouncers: Jay Devilliers, Jaume Martinez Vich, Jessie Irvine, Kaitlyn Christian. Sub: Donald Young. A similar team in terms of talent to Las Vegas, although the Atlanta men are slightly better and the Atlanta women are slightly worse. Atlanta will be fighting Las Vegas, Chicago, and Utah all year for the last couple of playoff spots. Much will come down to injuries or other reasons players may miss matches. Solidly competitive for a playoff spot, but no chance to challenge for a top four spot. Predicted record: 12-11

 

This wraps up our review of the first 10 MLP teams. The next preview will focus on the top 10 teams and the best of the best.

 

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