Anna Leigh Waters competing at MLP Miami.
Anna Leigh Waters competing at MLP Miami. Major League Pickleball

The MLP season wraps up: The good, the bad, and regular season awards

 
We have our six playoff teams, that will now focus on trying to win the 2024 championship. We also have our six non-playoff teams, which will lick their wounds, and try to figure out how to do better in 2025.

Let’s run down the winning and losing teams, and summarize the 2024 regular season.
 
1. The six who are out and their outlook for 2025
 
LA (31 points), Arizona (29), Orlando (28), Carolina (26), Columbus (21), and Utah (14) are out. None of the six ever got going; they got behind in the standings early and just could never put together a run.
 
LA was hampered all year by Thomas Wilson being out. Hunter Johnson was a solid late pick, but the team could never overcome Wilson’s absence. LA will have to figure out if Wilson will be back; if so, they will keep him and Catherine Parenteau and maybe Johnson; if Wilson is not back, he will be dropped and LA will have to find a replacement.
 
Arizona had moments of good play. But, like many of the non-playoff teams. The Dylan Frazier/Andrei Daescu pair never performed up to their draft status. Arizona’s women started slow, but after some trades, the Lacy Schneemann/Jessie Irvine pair did well. Irvine in particular played well down the stretch. Arizona faces some tough choices about who to keep and drop. A reasonable argument can be made for keeping or dropping everyone on the roster.
 
 
Orlando was similar to Arizona; one match of top play, followed by a match of poor play. Federico Staksrud and Tyson McGuffin were ok at best. After trades, the pair of Vivienne David/Meghan Dizon did not gel, in part as both are better on the right. Dizon is likely dropped, as she did not play up to her auction cost. It would not be unreasonable to also drop McGuffin and David. All of that auction money could likely be used on a more efficient team to put around Staksrud.
 
Carolina was probably the most disappointing team. Any team with Ben Johns should at least be a playoff team. Collin Johns obviously should be dropped. He is weak at mixed doubles and he and Ben were not dominant at men’s doubles. Carolina would be much better off pairing Ben with someone who can play a good right side, but also be able to potentially carry a mixed doubles team. Players like Tyler Loong, Jaume Martinez Vich, or Dekel Bar would be a much better fit. After trades, Carolina ended up with Kaitlyn Christian and Brooke Buckner. They can likely be dropped and picked up again, or equivalently skilled players picked up to replace them. An interesting strategy could be to drop the entire team. Depending on the rules for 2025 pickups, dropping Ben Johns may well be the best and most surprising move.
 
 
Columbus joins Carolina as a very disappointing team. The initial Riley Newman/Connor Garnett pair never worked and the women drafted did not play well. Columbus at least made an effort to compete, completing the most trades. But in the end, nothing worked. Jay Devilliers and Callie Smith are obvious drops. Parris Todd is a possible drop. A case can even be made to drop Newman and start over, possibly re-picking him at a lower price.
 
Utah was the weakest team drafted and they occupied the basement all year. Their trade for Garnett gave them some life. Alix Truong started slow but improved. All four players should be dropped, as Utah can almost certainly pick them up again if they want, or choose players they think fit better.
 
2. The four teams playing in the first round of the playoffs
 
The first round of the playoffs will include New York (36 points), Texas (38), DC (39), and Dallas (46). Dallas, as the top finisher among the four, can choose whether to play Texas or New York. New York is the obvious choice, if Christian Alshon is back for Texas.
 
Assuming it is Dallas v New York, that gives us JW Johnson/Augie Ge v Jack Sock/CJ Klinger and Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black v Lea Jansen/Jackie Kawamoto. The two teams split 1-1 in the regular season with Dallas winning 4-0, and New York later winning 3-1. Dallas is the more talented team, but was plagued by inconsistency. New York’s women played very steady all year. Klinger also played far better than his draft position. The team was dragged down by Sock, who statistically was one of the worst Premier players all year. The big question in this matchup is how Sock will play. If he can pick up his play, NY has a reasonable shot to win; if he plays poorly, the depth Dallas has is probably too much for NY.
 
Assuming Texas and DC play, this will be a very good matchup. Texas can send out Alshon/Quang Duong v James Ignatowich/Bar, and Tina Pisnik/Etta Wright v Rachel Rohrabacher/Vivian Glozman. But, Alshon missed time during the year, as did Ignatowich. If either is out, their team will be a big underdog. If all players are healthy, this is a pretty even matchup. Texas has the edge on both men’s and women’s, but not by a lot. They split 1-1 during the regular season. If Alshon is back and is 100%, I think he can lead Texas to the win.
 
 
3. The top two
 
The two best teams all year were New Jersey and St. Louis and they rightly finished 1-2. They played once during the regular season, with STL winning 3-1. New Jersey has Zane Navratil/Will Howells and Anna Leigh Waters/Mari Humberg, matched against STL with Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio and Anna Bright/Kate Fahey. Waters lead her team, but they are a bit unbalanced in that their #2 mixed team (Navratil/Humberg) did not do well. STL, on the other hand, can send out four very good doubles teams. NJ is deadly in a Dreambreaker, but STL also has good singles players. If these two meet in the finals, it will be a great matchup. I would give a slight edge to STL, but only slight. However, before they could play each other, they have to face the winners from round one. Upsets would not be all that surprising.
 
4. Regular season awards
 
Best player: Anna Leigh Waters. She finished first in the stats and deserves this award. Runner up to Anna Bright.
 
MVP: Will Howells. He was drafted late but he played like a low first/high second round pick. Waters was great but this team doesn’t do what it did without Howells. I missed and missed badly on my preseason rating on him, but I will make sup for it here by admitting my mistake and giving him the regular season MVP. Runners up go to Waters and Bright.
 
Best pick: Howells again and it is not close. Runners up go to Fahey and Klinger.
 
Best teammate: Chemistry is very important to MLP, and I will emphasize it with this award. It goes to Zane Navratil. He’s the straw that stirs the NJ drink. His value goes far above his record. Runner up to Anna Bright.
 
Best pickup/trade: This goes to Texas and the pickup of Quang Duong. By far. This was the best move of the year and no other move comes close. Runner up: Utah getting Garnett for Devilliers. Devilliers got injured after that, while Garnett picked up the team chemistry of Utah and made them very competitive.
 
The first round of the playoffs start November 1, in Dallas. Will it give Dallas and Texas a bit of home field advantage? Get your tickets, or tune in to see. Enjoy!
 
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