Major League Pickleball 2025 Season Preview And Predictions

We had a bit of a breather in the pro pickleball schedule these past couple of weeks, but not for long. Major League Pickleball kicks off its 2025 schedule next weekend with a huge season opening event in Orlando, hosted by the Orlando Squeeze DeVos family ownership.

In this preview, we’ll catch up on some of the news and noteworthy events for the league that have occurred since the draft, then run through all 16 Premier and 6 Challenger Teams and preview how I think they’ll end up in the final standings. Along the way, I’ll compare and contrast my rankings alongside my fellow pundits Pickleball.com’s Jim Kloss, The Dink’s Eric Tice, The Kitchen’s Alex Lantz’s, the NML Guys Preseason power rankings, and Matty Pickles/Picklepod’s Power rankings to open the season.

I gave a preview of these rankings in mid-March when I handed out MLP Draft Grades, Since that post, we’ve had some player movement, we’ve had some PPA pro tour events, and we’ve had some of the lesser-known draft picks show up big, which has some teams super excited for the 2025 season.

News and Noteworthy for the League

Here’s some of the MLP news since we last checked in at the draft two months ago:

– Tom Dundon’s Carolina Pickleball Club rebrands to be the Carolina Hogs. The color scheme is very similar to Dundon’s major sports ownership property the Carolina Hurricane’s NHL team.

– MLP signs a multi-year deal with DoorDash to be their presenting sponsor and rebrands to be “MLP presented by DoorDash.”

– MLP adjusts its competition rules, this time to make a couple of small tweaks. The most important rule change is the reduction of the number of waiver periods in Premier from four to two.

– MLP and Gray Media Announce the first ever Local Media Partnerships for MLP teams. Atlanta Bouncers, Carolina Hogs, Columbus Sliders, and St. Louis Shock
matches will all air on local regional sports networks, a first for the sport.

– Just before this published, MLP franchises Brooklyn and DC “swap” teams, with the ownership groups of the two franchises whole-sale trading teams. We have changed the team names in this post to reflect the new reality: Brooklyn is now listed on the MLP website as a Premier team, while DC is now a Challenger team.

Premier League 2025 Preview and Predictions

Here’s all 16 teams in the Premier league, in my prediction of reverse order from 16-to-1. Along the way, I’ll reference my fellow pundit rankings for comparison.

#16: SoCal Hard Eights

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=15, Tice=15, Lantz=15, NML=16, PicklePod=15

The team spent the bare minimum to acquire talent in the draft, and head into the season with the accomplished but aging Tereschenko as the lead female. Their bench player Hovenier could end up playing more than their starters, and as this team is comprised now it’ll be a shock if they don’t finish dead last. Only the NML guys and myself think they’re worse than the Hustlers.

#15: New York Hustlers

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=16, Tice=16, Lantz=16, NML=15, PicklePod=16

New York turned a playoff team in 2024 into a team that may not have even qualified for the challenger playoffs. They should have been doing what Chicago did, and there has to be concerns about the lack of spending from other owners. They did net the up and coming player Ford, who has gotten some results lately, but it’ll be a dog fight between them and SoCal for the basement.

#14: Miami Pickleball Club

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=14, Tice=14, Lantz=14, NML=14, PicklePod=14

Every pundit is in agreement for Miami, and for the bottom three in general. Miami flipped Oncins for Khlif post-draft, which at least pairs the two leading Frenchmen together for the season. I’m not sure that made the team better, though it did reunite them with the classy Noe. I like the players, but I think they’ll struggle as a team.

#13: Utah Black Diamonds

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=11, Tice=12, Lantz=12, NML=12, PicklePod=12

I’m slightly bearish on Utah as compared to my fellow pundits. The team traded Alix Truong in a somewhat controversial move just after the draft, netting Allyce Jones but also making for an interesting set of choices for the players; Jones is a right-sided player, meaning the team will depend on the untested Safdar to play left-side with both Jones and Loong all season long. I like Loong & Garnett together; they’re almost a lock to make pro quarters right now on tour, but are the mixed teams good enough to get wins?

#12: Atlanta Bouncers

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=10, Tice=13, Lantz=13, NML=13, PicklePod=13

Atlanta netted Canadian star Di Muzio as their second starting female in the draft, and she’s already showing her mettle in PPA events. They had a solid base of Men in Vich and Fought moving up from Challenger, and could push a bit higher like Kloss believes.

#11: Carolina Hogs

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=12, Tice=9, Lantz=10, NML=11, PicklePod=9

They chose to spend the absolute minimum on both their 4th starter and both bench spots in the draft, and have the Johns brothers (now broken up on the PPA and living in different cities) with their questionable commitment to MLP. As I said in my draft recap, if the Johns brothers “try,” this is a playoff team. But, I don’t think they’re trying. I think they’re exhibit 1 and 1-A on why the PPA is pushing hard to go back to a prize money model and rid themselves of $30 million in annual “appearance fees.”

#10: LA Mad Drops

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=7, Tice=7, Lantz=7, NML=7, PicklePod=7

This is one of the two teams that I disagreed across the board with my fellow pundits. Why do I think they’ll be worse than the others? Several reasons: the men’s doubles team of Duong and Hunter Johnson is a poor match, forcing Duong to play the left, where he’s not a top doubles player (Duong has just two career medals in Men’s doubles, one of which was in Australia earlier this year). Hunter has never won a doubles medal on the PPA tour. They’re both excellent singles players who will be frankenstein’d into a men’s doubles team and will get eaten up by the better, more experienced doubles players out there. The Mad Drops have a similar issue with their ladies; Parenteau has been playing the right side with ALW for two years but has to play left with the lefty-hitting Jade. Then, Catherine has to move back to the right with one or the other of Duong or Hunter, meaning one or both are out of position there too. I just don’t think this is a well-constructed team. And then there’s the slight issue of CP’s paddle, which is widely known to be substandard in terms of today’s technology and is a big reason she’s fallen out of favor with ALW/is falling down the ranks in singles.

#9: Chicago Slice

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=9, Tice=10, Lantz=9, NML=8, PicklePod=10

Chicago did what I thought New York would do with all its cash; spend a ton of money to build a premier-league level squad. That’s exactly what Chicago did, spending $320,000 in the draft on four established pros. Is it enough to get into the playoffs? Probably not: Ignatowich needs to lead the way and gets his former roommate (and possible rising star) Max Freeman as his second male. The ladies on this team are solid, veteran, dependable players in Vivienne & Callie. We all think the same thing here: middle of the road, just outside of playoffs. By the way, here’s a teaser: I’ve got an interview with the Chicago Slice’s Ron Saslow running soon, talking about the 2025 draft.

#8: Phoenix Flames

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=13, Tice=11, Lantz=11, NML=10, PicklePod=11

This is the biggest discrepancy in pundit ranks in the draft, and I’m looking like I’m in the minority here. At the end of the draft, this was Sock, McGuffin, Irvine, and Dizon. I thought this would have been a decent but just out of the running team. Phoenix then flipped Dizon for Bouchard in a trade that made them inarguably worse. Why not trade for Donald Young and Sam Querrey while you’re at it to ensure all the ex-Tennis pros are in one spot? Is their goal to win games or to win Instagram? I think McGuffin can make up for some issues with his doubles talent, but not enough to get this team to the playoffs.

#7: Orlando Squeeze

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=8, Tice=8, Lantz=8, NML=9, PicklePod=8

We all have Orlando just out of the playoff running, in the middle of the pack, on the strength of having two of the best individual male players in the game. But, their draft left them with Parker as a second player, and that may prove to be a weak link for this team when it goes up against better put together squads. There’s a couple of females in challenger who would absolutely be an upgrade (Humberg, Wang, Truong, or Buckner), but they can’t be acquired until mid-season

#6: Brooklyn Pickleball Club (was DC)

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=4, Tice=6, Lantz=5, NML=6, PicklePod=6

Brooklyn is a good team, don’t get me wrong. Bar, Newman, Kawamoto, and Rohrabacher are tough all around. I have them in the playoffs, but not going far, for one main reason: with all due respect to the great Riley Newman, he’s aging fast. Which is weird to say because he’s a year younger than the 32-year old Dekel Bar. But the facts are these: Newman has just four pro medals in the last calendar year on tour, and none since he paired with Patriquin to win gold in Dallas last November. I think his game style is being blown up by the power game and he’s one of the best of the dying generation of the sport.

#5: Texas Ranchers

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=6, Tice=5, Lantz=6, NML=4, PicklePod=5

I was slightly more bearish on Texas two months ago; now I think they’re scary and wonder if I’ve got them too low. I ranked them 7th when I thought their second male was Khlif; soon after the draft the team traded for Oncins, and now their males look scary good. Alshon has done nothing but improve in 2025, putting his name in rarified air on tour. Meanwhile, Etta has blown up in 2025 and Pisnik remains the solid contributor she has always been. This team has potential.

#4: Columbus Sliders

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=5, Tice=4, Lantz=4, NML=5, PicklePod=2

Columbus won the off-season, acquiring Daescu & Klinger in draft steals by two teams making inexplicable moves, then swiped Jansen in the draft to pair with the solid Parris Todd to make for a team that’s going to be tough to beat top to bottom. The PicklePod guys went way out on a limb, pushing them to be the 2nd best team, which I think is a reach, but they’re still a solid playoff team that can make trouble come October.

#3: St Louis Shock

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=2, Tice=3, Lantz=3, NML=2, PicklePod=4

St. Louis made fast work of their draft day, winning the opening bid to secure Fahey and run 2024 back intact. It worked last year, why not this year? They’ll battle Dallas & New Jersey for the top spot all year, but I have them below NJ b/c I think the 5’s improved, and below Dallas b/c the Johnsons are getting better with every tourney.

#2: New Jersey 5’s

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=3, Tice=1, Lantz=1, NML=3, PicklePod=3

I had NJ 3rd at the end of the draft, where they ended up with Bouchard as their second female. However, once they stole Dizon from Phoenix for Bouchard, I pushed them higher. ALW can move back to the left and can win with whoever plays alongside of her. Howells continues to not play PPAs, which hurts his development, but he’s still a very good player who gets reps with top players. I don’t think NJ loses in the playoffs this year, even if they don’t finish top.

#1: Dallas Flash

Other Pundit Ranks: Kloss=1, Tice=2, Lantz=2, NML=1, PicklePod=1

Dallas didn’t mess around in the draft; they went out with the 2nd overall pick and got the player they had to drop in Ge to run 2024 right back around. Why not? All they did was win the title with this quartet last year, and as we speak both Jorja and Tyra are improving, with Jorja taking a double at the most recent PPA event and starting to have pundits wonder if she can put her name in the ring with ALW as the sport’s top female.

At the end of the day, I feel like MLP is in a set of Tiers for 2025 (as do most of the pundits):

– Title contenders: STL, NJ, Dallas: every matchup will be a coin toss.

– Playoff also rans: Columbus, Texas, Brooklyn, Orlando. Playoff contenders, not title contenders.

– The Middle class of solid teams: Phoenix, Chicago, LA, Carolina: I like them to all finish at or near .500 for the season

– The teams that should be in Challenger: Atlanta, Utah, Miami.

– The race for the bottom: NY and SoCal

Challenger League 2025 Preview and Predictions

Here’s some quick predictions for the Challenger’s six teams, based on the draft results and the moves we’ve seen in the last few weeks. I don’t have fellow pundit predictions, and all six teams qualify for the playoffs, but here goes:

1. Las Vegas Night Owls (NML=1): Probably has both the best Male (Vich) and Female (Wang) in Challenger right now.

2. DC Pickleball Team (NML=2): I have to think Humberg is getting traded, but she elevates Brooklyn to near the top on her own.

3. Bay Area Breakers (NML=5): They were much lower until post-draft trades brought in near premier-level talents Troung and Young.

4. Nashville Chefs (NML=4): Ewa gives them a solid female base, and I like what Scarpa can do.

5. California Black Bears (NML=3): I like their two women Sleeth and Lina. Just acquired unknown Benitez to pair with lefty veteran Hewett.

6. Florida Smash (NML=6): I like the up and coming Campbell, but they prioritized Florida-based pros at the expense of a winning team.