This is Part Two of our preview of the 2026 MLP season, which begins May 22 in Dallas.

 

In Part One, we looked at 10 of the 20 teams, going over their rosters and likely finish. Now, we will look at the 10 best teams and try to predict records and possible finish. 

 

As with Part One, we will list the four starters and then any substitutes likely to play.

 

10. Utah Black Diamonds: Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Etta Tuionetoa, Allyce Jones. Subs: Tyler Loong, Victoria DiMuzio. Utah brings back most of their 2025 team. The key addition is young phenom Shimabukuro. When drafted, I thought 2026 might be too early for us to see him take a starting spot. However, during 2026, we have seen Shimabukuro get taller and add more one-hand backhand volleys to his repertoire. He is now more effective at the line than he was just a few months before. The difficulty he will face will be the lineup decisions for this team. Shimabukuro is strictly a left side player, as is Garnett, who played very well at the recent PPA Finals. They are the two best players on the team, but don’t mix well. Does Utah therefore sit one of them and play Loong on the right? Shimabukuro is better at men’s doubles than mixed, but he is likely to play due to his potential. Shimabukuro is a star in the making, but 2026 is still probably one year before he gets really good. Either way, this will be an interesting team to watch. Tuionetoa and Jones are a good, but not great duo. Utah should be in the playoff race all year, but like Atlanta are no threat to win it all. Predicted record: 12-11

 

9. Palm Beach Royals: Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Tina Pisnik, Sofia Sewing. Subs: Grayson Goldin, Tammy Emmrich. 2026 is Palm Beach’s first year and they have assembled an interesting team. They went harder on obtaining veteran talent than I would have done. As a new team, I would have focused on trying to get young players, hoping to hit on a future superstar. Instead, Palm Beach went for older players, who are solid, but with very little upside. Of the four starters, only Sewing has any real upside. Bar has not played well in 2026. McGuffin is still a top 20 player, but he is declining. Pisnik has played very well in 2026, but as she is 45 years old, she will inevitably decline in the near future. Sewing comes over from APP, where she dominated against very inferior competition. Sewing is a very good singles player, but I expect her to struggle some at first in doubles. Goldin can sub in for Bar in Dreambreakers, but poor roster construction left them with no one to sub in for Pisnik. A smart GM would have nabbed a female singles specialist. This team is very similar to Utah, and should fare about as well. Predicted record: 13-10.

 

8. Orlando Squeeze: Federico Staksrud, Jack Sock, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane. Orlando brings back a team similar to what they had in 2025. The one change is swapping in Sock for Dylan Frazier. Sock has a higher ceiling than Frazier, but a lower floor. Sock has had some decent mixed doubles results with Schneemann, so I assume they will play together. Sock and Staksrud are an interesting pairing for men’s doubles. Both like the left, although when paired with Daescu, Staksrud has shown he can play a good right side. Sock has been on bad MLP teams up to this point, so we will see if being on a better team helps his play. Ultimately, Orlando’s women are good enough for a playoff spot, but not good enough to be a top four team. Predicted record: 14-9

 

7. Dallas Flash: JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Tyra Black, Brooke Buckner. Dallas is the biggest mover of any team between 2025 and 2026, but not in a good way. Dallas made a horrible choice to drop Jorja Johnson before the auction when they should have dropped JW Johnson. The auction competition for women was fierce, while Dallas could have and would have been able to re-pick JW Johnson or at worst get Dylan Frazier for FAR less money than Jorja Johnson went for. This unforced error has caused Dallas to go from a championship team to a solid team unlikely to make the final four. Johnson, Ge, and Black have all proven to be championship caliber players. After mistakenly dropping Jorja Johnson, Dallas then compounded the error by not drafting Lea Jansen or Danni-Elle Townsend, both of whom were available at reasonable prices and both of whom are potentially good enough to keep this team in the top four. Perhaps after seeing the price Jorja Johnson went for in the auction, the Dallas management was throwing a fit and lost their internet connection for a time. In any event, dropping Jorja was really bad, and they messed up again by not drafting Jansen or Townsend (or Dennehy or Humberg). This team needs to find Johnny Goldberg’s number and call him to be GM. Predicted record: 14-9

 

6. Texas Ranchers: Eric Oncins, Dylan Frazier, Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth. Sub: Matt Barlow. Oncins is one of the most improved players in pickleball the last year and is fully capable of being the best player on a good team. Frazier continues to play solid pickleball and pairs very well with Oncins. Jansen has been the subject of “bad teammate” rumors both of the last two years, but she was part of the Columbus championship team, so perhaps chemistry is overrated as compared to talent. Texas needed help on the female side, so she was a good pickup. Sleeth has never shown to be anything special, so the women will hold this team back. Barlow is a good singles player, but neither Oncins nor Frazier need a sub in singles. Another team, like Dallas, that is good, but not good enough to win it all. Predicted record: 14-9

 

 

5. LA Mad Drops: Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto. Subs: Genie Bouchard, Gabe Joseph. Any team with Ben Johns on it is a potential championship team, so all of the top five teams could win it all. One requirement to be a championship contender is to have a women’s doubles team that can compete with anyone. LA meets that bar, as do the other teams in the top five. Parenteau and Kawamoto were on fire early in MLP 2025, but cooled off at the end. Did teams figure them out? Ben Johns is Ben Johns. The question with him is, as always, how into MLP will he be? He has never given 100% and at times has looked like he is at the dentist. This team will go as far as his interest level can take them. Freeman is decent, but not great. He is continually mentioned by many people as a breakout star, but I do not see it. My big concern for this team is that Freeman’s inconsistency will annoy Johns and he will thus not play with maximum effort. Predicted record: 15-8

 

4. Brooklyn Pickleball Team: Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Rachel Rohrabacher, Jackie Kawamoto. Subs: Chris Haworth, Hannah Blatt. This is a well-constructed team, with a GM who recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the players and looks for the right fit. Alshon and Newman have had prior MLP success together, and they have the versatility to play either side. They are also both very good mixed doubles players. Rohrabacher and Kawamoto are both top 10 females, which again is a requirement to be a threat to win it all. Rohrabacher has played more left side in PPA events and has improved her game on that side. Kawamoto is super solid. I expect the Brooklyn women to be better together in 2026 than they were in 2025, and that this team can gel well. The subs are the best of any team. Haworth is the best singles player in the world, so he can sub in for Newman in Dreambreakers. Blatt is a decent singles player, so she can sub in for Kawamoto. Again, a very well-constructed team by a GM who understands how to put together a team. Predicted record: 16-7

 

3. Columbus Sliders: Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Parris Todd, Danni-Elle Townsend. Subs: Alex Crum, Alix Truong. Last year’s champions return three starters, with Aussie Townsend replacing Lea Jansen. Townsend is new to US play, but I like her better than Jansen. She should play on the left in women’s doubles, allowing Todd to move to the right, her stronger side. Daescu is a beast when playing well. He played his best pickleball ever in the 2025 playoffs and they will need that again to win in 2026. Klinger has had some minor struggles lately in PPA events, but always seems to play his best at MLP. Credit to the GM for dropping Jansen and picking up Townsend at a reasonable price, and for having Truong in the wings if Townsend struggles. I like this team, and they should make the final four. Predicted record: 17-6

 

2. St. Louis Shock: Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey. Subs: John Lucian Goins, Elsie Hendershot. St. Louis brings back the band in 2026. This is the best team to never win it all. This team has no weaknesses and all kinds of strengths. Patriquin and Tardio are the best players in the world not named Ben Johns. Anna Bright is the best woman player in the world not named Anna Leigh Waters. Fahey continues to improve. They are good at singles, and even have a top 5 singles player on the bench in Goins. Hendershot is going to be a top 10 player one day. It just will take some time. An embarrassment of riches, but they still have to get by New Jersey. Predicted record: 20-3

 

1. New Jersey 5’s: Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson. They were an excellent team in 2025, and only got better for 2026. New Jersey took advantage of Dallas’ unforced error of releasing Jorja Johnson, spending big to nab her. Johnson is not just a great player, but is a perfect fit to play with Waters. Khlif will play mixed with Johnson, and while they play #2 mixed for this team, they will be a threat to finish as a top 5 team in the league. All four players are good at singles. What is there not to like about New Jersey? Howells has struggled a little bit lately in PPA events as he recovers from an ankle injury, but the current break between events should be a great help to him. And, he gets to play mixed with Waters, which will fire anyone up. It would not shock me if this team were to go undefeated. But, a stumble along the way against one of the other top teams seems likely. Predicted record: 21-2

 

 

MLP success is determined by how good the women are on your team. No matter how good your men are, if your women can’t compete at the top, you cannot win. This is clearly shown by the tiers teams are in. Tier 6 at the bottom are Florida and Carolina. No chance to do anything. Tier 5 is Phoenix, California, and Miami. Some life, but no real chance to make the playoffs. Tier 4 is SoCal, Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Utah, Orlando and Palm Beach. All have some talent, cannot win it all, but will compete for the last five playoff spots. Tier 3 is Dallas and Texas. Playoff teams, but cannot win it all. Tier 2 is LA, Brooklyn and Columbus. Locks to make the playoffs, have a chance to win it all, but are not as strong as the very top teams, so they will need to catch some breaks. Tier 1 is St. Louis and New Jersey. They are near perfect teams. They are likely to play each other for the championship. Indeed, if you had to choose between taking St. Louis, New Jersey, or the other 18 teams combined as to which group the champion will come from, most people would take St. Louis or New Jersey. They are just that good. Of course, Columbus winning in 2025 was a minor upset, so upsets do happen. The 2026 season will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

 

Follow me for updates as the MLP year goes on @pickleball_jim.