Going into the MLP Mid-Season Tournament, the expectation was that St. Louis would face New Jersey in a finals showdown. For once, the prevailing wisdom proved correct, as the two best teams did indeed make the final. In that final, St. Louis was the better team, winning 3-0. St. Louis thus takes over the top spot in the standings, with New Jersey dropping to the second slot. Time to separate fact from fiction and see where the teams stand heading toward the playoffs.

 

 

St. Louis has long been thought to be the best team. Indeed, you could make a good argument they were the best team in 2024 and 2025. But they came up short both years. St. Louis looked very, very good all week, and especially against their rival New Jersey. Recency bias will lead many fans to now overrate St. Louis’ chances of winning it all, but while St. Louis may be the best team, they are far from a sure thing to win it all.

 

In the Mid-Season Tournament, St. Louis easily handled Texas in the quarterfinals. But, in the semifinals, St. Louis struggled to defeat LA. St. Louis won both genders doubles matches 12-10, but lost to Ben Johns in mixed, with Gabe Tardio and Kate Fahey closing it out in mixed with an 11-7 win over Max Freeman and Catherine Parenteau. Obviously, either of those gender doubles matches could have gone the other way, which would have resulted in a DreamBreaker, where anything could have happened.

 

 

In the final, St. Louis played a freeze out strategy, hitting as few balls as possible to Anna Leigh Waters. Jorja Johnson played (for her) poorly. This allowed St. Louis to score the first win of the year against the New Jersey women, and it seemed like that result set the tone for the entire match. New Jersey was never able to recover, and St. Louis had the victory.

 

St. Louis is the best team. They are the favorite to win the 2026 championship. But they are not overwhelming favorites. The playoff semifinals and finals will be close, difficult matches. Betting on St. Louis to win it all in 2026 is reasonable, but don’t bet the house on it.

 

 

New Jersey rolled into the finals fairly easily. In the quarters, they defeated Dallas 3-1, not being seriously threatened. In the semis, New Jersey defeated Columbus 3-1. In both of their wins, New Jersey was led by Anna Leigh Waters, who comfortably won all four of her doubles games.

 

The final against St. Louis was different from the get-go. It started, as usual, with women’s doubles. Coming into the final, the combo of Waters and Johnson was undefeated. This record allowed New Jersey to always set the tone, begin 1-0, and put pressure on the opponent. But St. Louis was having none of it. Anna Bright and Kate Fahey used a new strategy, hitting every ball possible to Jorja Johnson. Johnson did not respond well to this pressure. St. Louis led early, and Bright/Fahey finished it off 11-6. St. Louis won as expected in men’s doubles, and Bright and Hayden Patriquin closed it out with an 11-8 victory over Waters and Noe Khlif.

 

 

New Jersey did not look good against St. Louis. But New Jersey is built differently from St. Louis. St. Louis features four very strong doubles teams, while New Jersey has one super strong pair, one very strong pair, and two good but inconsistent pairs. New Jersey is super reliant on winning that first women’s doubles match, and in the rare instance they lose it, their whole strategy is thwarted.

 

New Jersey will survive this loss. They are likely to face St. Louis again at MLP Orlando. They could well play each other in the MLP finals. Expect St. Louis to again try to freeze out Waters. But also expect Jorja Johnson to see it coming and respond better. Congrats to St. Louis, but do not count out New Jersey.

 

 

We went into the Mid-Season Tournament thinking the championship contenders were St. Louis, New Jersey, LA, Columbus, and Brooklyn. We have emerged from the Mid-Season Tournament with those same five at the top. Brooklyn had an awful time in the tournament, but it was understandable as they were missing three starters. When healthy, Brooklyn still has a solid lineup. Brooklyn is a poor man’s St. Louis; they do not have any great doubles pair, but do have four solid pairs.

 

Columbus is still trying to gel with their remade roster. CJ Klinger is not playing to his usual standards. The mixed pairs are struggling some. But in the end, we are talking about the team that won it all in 2025 and now has Tyra Black in for Lea Jansen. You absolutely cannot count out Columbus. They have shown they are capable of raising their play in the playoffs.

 

 

LA remains a threat. When you have the world’s best player, and he gets to play two of your four matches, you cannot be counted out. LA almost lost to Palm Beach and narrowly lost to St. Louis. LA is a team that can beat anyone, but is also capable of losing to a weaker team. LA is going to play a fair amount of DreamBreakers based on how they are constructed, and DreamBreakers are unpredictable.

 

After the top five, the next tier is Texas, Dallas, and Palm Beach. Each team has some strengths, but lacks the star power of New Jersey or LA, and lacks the depth of St. Louis, Columbus, or Brooklyn. Could Texas, Dallas, or Palm Beach sneak an upset in a playoff quarterfinal? Yes, with LA being the most vulnerable to an upset. But winning it all requires beating three of the top teams in a row, and Texas, Dallas, and Palm Beach cannot accomplish that task.

 

 

The MLP trade deadline has been moved back once again to July 20. Of the top five teams, one team very, very clearly needs a trade.

 

Here are the PPA gender doubles rankings for the four starters on the top five MLP teams: St. Louis T1, T5, T1, 14; New Jersey 16, 103, T1, 4; LA T1, 32, 6, 8; Columbus 4, 8, 3, 5; Brooklyn 3, 12, 7, 11.  There are two outliers, Will Howells (#103) and Max Freeman (#32). Howells came to PPA late from APP, got injured, and his low ranking is purely a result of him not having played many PPA events. He is a top 15 player, and once he plays enough PPA events, his ranking points will reflect his skill level.

 

Settling Howells aside, who is the outlier? Who is the only non-top 16 player on a top five team? The answer is Max Freeman. No disrespect to Freeman, every player in MLP is one of the best pickleball players in the entire world, but Freeman is simply a weak link on the LA team. Freeman went 0-3 in his last three mixed doubles games in the tournament when LA was playing good teams. LA has three top 10 players and then a big dropoff. Fortunately for LA, there is a solution. Miami has Dylan Frazier, ranked #10 in the world, and is going to trade him before the deadline. Frazier would be a perfect fit on LA. He can play a great right side next to Johns, and is an improvement over Freeman at mixed doubles. 

 

Rarely is a trade this obvious. It is a win for Miami, as they get cash from LA. It is a huge win for LA, as they add a fourth top 10 player to their roster. A complete, total, 100% no brainer of a trade. It would lift LA into solid championship contention.

 

Next up is MLP San Diego, starting Thursday. Catch all the action on Pickleballtv.

 

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