But the teams at the top of the league standings who were competing this week \u2014 St. Louis and Los Angeles \u2014 dismissed all the hype and continued their consistent play, with the Shock and Mad Drops winning their respective groups and meeting for the third time this season in Sunday\u2019s MLP St. Petersburg final (they had split the previous two meetings).<\/p>\n
Ultimately it was St. Louis taking the rubber match \u2014 and the 25 standings points up for grabs this week \u2014 with a 3-0 win over Los Angeles. It\u2019s the second time in a row that the Shock have swept the Mad Drops, and they\u2019ve now taken over first place in the league standings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just so proud of our players, and happy to be peaking now with two Super Sunday wins in a row,\u201d St. Louis General Manager Ross Chaifetz said after the win. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to what comes next for us at the Mid-Season Tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n While St. Louis was claiming another event title, the new-look Sliders settled for a disappointing 5th place finish after losses in Group Play to Palm Beach and St. Louis. They ended on a high note, though, with a 3-0 sweep over the Chicago Slice on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had different women\u2019s players for every event at this point, so it\u2019s a lot for our men\u2019s players to adjust to,\u201d Columbus\u2019 Todd said Sunday. \u201cI feel like these matches in the beginning of the season are really just about (preparing) for the playoffs. We\u2019re trying different things out and really seeing what\u2019s going to make a difference for the playoffs, so this is all just testing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a closer look at where things stand across the league after Week 5:<\/p>\n Major League Pickleball St. Petersburg Results<\/p>\n Major League Pickleball Week 5 Standings<\/p>\n Major League Pickleball Week 5 Power Rankings<\/p>\n 1. New Jersey 5s\u00a0\u2194\ufe0f<\/p>\n Record:\u00a015-2<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Will Howells, Noe Khlif, Martin Emmrich, Anna Leigh Waters, Jorja Johnson, Lina Padegimaite.<\/p>\n Following the Columbus trade \u2014 and even before the Columbus trade \u2014 there was a lot of chatter that the 5s would be next to make a move, and a possible Noe Khlif-for-JW Johnson (Dallas Flash) deal was floated by multiple pundits. But as of Sunday those rumors had quieted down.<\/p>\n In any case, I\u2019m not convinced that the 5s need to make a trade in order to win the title this year. They are currently riding a 12-match winning streak and have won the last two events they\u2019ve played in.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s with their men\u2019s doubles team of Khlif and Howells underperforming compared to last year\u2019s results. In 2025 they were 13-8 (62%) after Khlif was traded to the 5s late in the season. So far in 2026 they are 9-8 (53%). The fact that New Jersey is still 15-2 without their men\u2019s doubles duo playing their best is an encouraging sign in my book. It means there\u2019s still room for this team to improve, and that\u2019s not what you want to hear if you\u2019re the rest of the league.<\/p>\n The 5s have also played St. Louis twice. The first time they lost in a Dreambreaker, but they rebounded with a win in regulation the second time around. For that reason, I\u2019m still giving the slight edge to New Jersey.<\/p>\n 2. St. Louis Shock\u00a0\u2194\ufe0f<\/p>\n Record:\u00a020-2<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, John Lucian Goins, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, Elsie Hendershot.<\/p>\n St. Louis put up arguably the most impressive week of any team to this point in the season at MLP St. Pete. The Shock went 5-0 in a very tough group that included Columbus, Palm Beach, Orlando and Texas \u2014 all likely playoff teams. They capped it off with a convincing sweep over a very good LA team on Sunday.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll see them next at the Mid-Season Tournament in early July, which every team will be participating in. If the Shock win that event, they will go into the home stretch of the season as the clear favorites.<\/p>\n 3. Los Angeles Mad Drops \u2194\ufe0f<\/p>\n Record:\u00a015-2<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Ben Johns, Max Freeman, Gabriel Joseph, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Samantha Parker.<\/p>\n After a stellar start to the season and a win in their first event, they have settled for second in both of their past two events. Each time they\u2019ve been swept by St. Louis in the final, so there now seems to be a decent gap between LA and the Top 2 teams, despite the standings being very close.<\/p>\n 4. Brooklyn Pickleball Team \ud83d\udcc8<\/p>\n Record:\u00a09-2<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Christian Alshon, Riley Newman, Chris Haworth, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hannah Blatt.<\/p>\n Their only two losses this season have been to the Mad Drops, so it\u2019s hard to fault them for anything at this point. I\u2019ll be interested to see what happens when they play New Jersey, St. Louis or Columbus later in the season. Both New Jersey and Brooklyn are playing this coming week in New York City, but they are in opposite pools \u2014 so if they both win their group we\u2019ll get a very interesting Super Sunday matchup to decide the event winner.<\/p>\n 5. Columbus Sliders \ud83d\udcc9<\/p>\n Record:\u00a016-6<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Andrei Daescu, CJ Klinger, Alexander Crum, Parris Todd, Tyra Black, Judit Castillo.<\/p>\n I truly don\u2019t know what I\u2019m supposed to do with Columbus this week. On paper, they have assembled arguably the best roster in the league \u2014 with all four starters ranked in the Top 10 in gender doubles on the PPA Tour. But it turns out they don\u2019t play the matches on paper.<\/p>\n The Sliders were upset by Palm Beach in Group Play on Friday, then were beaten handily by St. Louis on Saturday in a match that ultimately decided who won the group.<\/p>\n There are still plenty of reasons for the Sliders to be optimistic, though.<\/p>\n This was Black\u2019s first event back after missing time due to an illness.<\/p>\n This was the first time Black\/Klinger have played together in MLP (they\u2019ve played once before in a 2025 PPA Tour event in Australia). They went 3-2 this week, and I would expect them to continue to improve with more time on court together.<\/p>\n This is essentially the same position Columbus was in at the mid-way point of the 2025 regular season. But they were able to find a new gear in the playoffs and went on to win the title last year. I don\u2019t think anybody would be surprised this time around if they are able to make a similar run down the stretch and be one of the last teams standing.<\/p>\n PLAY WITH THE PADDLE BEN JOHNS USES<\/p>\n The\u00a0JOOLA Pro V\u00a0is one of the highest-performing paddles on the market right now.<\/p>\n Shop here and get a FREE Kitchen hat with your purchase.<\/a><\/p>\n 6. Palm Beach Royals \ud83d\udcc8<\/p>\n Record:\u00a09-7<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Grayson Goldin, Tina Pisnik, Sofia Sewing, Tamaryn Emmrich.<\/p>\n The Royals made a big statement this week, finishing second in a very tough group that included St. Louis, Columbus, Texas, Orlando and Miami \u2014 four of those teams were in the Top 7 in the league standings coming into the week.<\/p>\n The strong performance was led by Palm Beach\u2019s women\u2019s duo of Pisnik and Sewing. They were a perfect 6-0 on the week with convincing wins over St. Louis\u2019 Anna Bright\/Kate Fahey (11-2) and Brooklyn\u2019s Jackie Kawamoto\/Rachel Rohrabacher (11-3).<\/p>\n But the Royals were also involved in some controversy earlier in the week. All three of their men\u2019s players \u2014 Bar, McGuffin and Goldin \u2014 dealt with injuries or illnesses at some point in the week, according to the league. In a surprise move, the Royals were able to use Casey Diamond as an on-site alternate after Diamond signed a UPA contract mid-week. He is the regular mixed doubles partner of Sewing on the APP Tour, so it was certainly a favorable outcome for the Royals, given the circumstances.<\/p>\n 7. Dallas Flash\u00a0\ud83d\udcc8<\/p>\n Roster:\u00a0JW Johnson, Augie Ge, Ivan Jakovljevic, Danni-Elle Townsend, Alix Truong, Brooke Buckner.<\/p>\n Record:\u00a04-6<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/discounts-2.png\")
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