The Dallas Flash Go Back-to-Back as the MLP Playoff Race Heats Up

The Dallas Flash have done something that very few teams manage to pull off in professional sports — they’ve won two consecutive Major League Pickleball events in back-to-back weeks. After dominating MLP San Diego, the Flash carried that same momentum into Chicago and came out on top again. For a league as competitive and unpredictable as MLP, this kind of consistency is rare and worth paying close attention to.

What Is Major League Pickleball and Why Does It Matter?

If you’re newer to the sport or just starting to follow competitive pickleball, here’s a quick breakdown so you can fully appreciate what’s happening. Major League Pickleball, commonly known as MLP, is the top professional team-based pickleball league in the United States. Teams are made up of both men and women players, and matches are structured around several formats — women’s doubles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, and a tiebreaker format called the Dreambreaker. The Dreambreaker is a singles rally where each player on a team takes turns hitting, making it one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking ways to settle a tied match. Teams compete across multiple events throughout the regular season, earning standings points based on their results. At the end of the regular season, the top teams advance to the playoffs. Think of it like the NBA or NFL, but for pickleball — with trades, rosters, coaches, and a whole competitive structure built around the sport. The stakes are real, the competition is fierce, and the 2026 season has been full of drama. MLP has been instrumental in bringing professional pickleball to a mainstream audience, and events like the one that just wrapped up in Chicago are exactly why fans keep tuning in.

The Championship Match: Dallas Flash vs. Brooklyn Pickleball Team

The 1v1 matchup on Super Sunday between the Dallas Flash and the Brooklyn Pickleball Team turned out to be the marquee match of the entire weekend. It was not a clean sweep by any means — Brooklyn showed they could compete at the highest level, and the early exchanges were tight and tense.

Dallas opened the scoring in women’s doubles, with Alix Truong and Danni Townsend coming out hot and beating Jackie Kawamoto and Hannah Blatt by a commanding 11-4 margin. That’s a decisive win in any format, and it set the tone for what Dallas wanted to do — play fast, play aggressive, and make a statement early.

Brooklyn responded with a strong performance from Riley Newman and Christian Alshon, who beat JW Johnson and Augie Ge 11-7 in men’s doubles to tie things up at 1-1. Newman is one of the most well-known players in professional pickleball, and his ability to steady Brooklyn in that moment was exactly what the team needed.

Christian Alshon then switched partners and played mixed doubles alongside Rachel Rohrabacher, who had only played mixed doubles throughout the entire weekend. That pairing worked well — they took down JW Johnson and Brooke Buckner 11-7, giving Brooklyn the lead and shifting the momentum heading into the final mixed doubles match of the day.

Then Dallas hit back hard. Danni Townsend and Augie Ge closed out the mixed doubles portion of play with a dominant 11-2 win over Riley Newman and Jackie Kawamoto, forcing a Dreambreaker to decide the event champion.

The Dreambreaker was not close. Dallas won 21-10, making a clear and emphatic statement. This team is firing on all cylinders right now, and heading into Orlando, they are the team everyone else has to beat.

Dallas finishes the regular season with 72 standings points — good for sixth place in both total points and points per event. That’s likely where they’ll land when the regular season wraps, but make no mistake: the Flash are playing their best pickleball right now at exactly the right time.

Brooklyn, meanwhile, earns 18 points and heads into MLP Orlando with their playoff positioning still intact, but with work left to do.

The California Black Bears Made a Dramatic Surge

One of the most interesting subplots coming out of MLP Chicago was the turnaround from the California Black Bears. This team essentially rebuilt itself on the fly over the last two weeks — the only two players from their original roster are Sahra Dennehy and Luca Mack, who is currently on Injured Reserve after getting hurt early in the season.

The Black Bears made a flurry of trades and acquisitions, bringing in Pablo Tellez, Dylan Frazier, Zoey Weil, Jalina Ingram, and Martin Emmrich. Emmrich stepped into a Captain/Coach role this weekend, and by all accounts, the new-look roster came together in a significant way. This kind of mid-season retooling is incredibly risky — new players need time to build chemistry, develop trust, and learn how to play together under pressure. The fact that this group pulled it off so quickly is a credit to everyone involved.

The Bears started rocky, dropping their opening match to Brooklyn 3-1. But they regrouped and went 3-0 in their remaining pool play matches, beating Phoenix, Texas, and Miami to claim the #2 seed heading into Sunday’s bracket play.

On Super Sunday, California took care of the Chicago Slice in a clean 3-0 sweep, earning 15 standings points — which actually doubled their previous total across three events. The Bears are very much alive in the playoff race heading into Orlando, and if their new roster continues to gel, they could be a real dark horse in the postseason.

The Chicago Slice Surprised Everyone at Their Home Event

Chicago hosted MLP at the brand new Life Time North Shore facility, which is a beautiful venue and a real statement for the sport in the Midwest. But the expectations for the Slice as a team were not high. They had made some moves in recent weeks, picking up Emma Nelson, John Lucian Goins, and Elsie Hendershot, and adding AJ Koller off waivers. This was a young, somewhat unproven group.

To make things more complicated, captain Zane Navratil was only available on Thursday due to a previously scheduled personal commitment. Most teams struggle without their captain and leader — Chicago found a way to compete anyway.

On Thursday, the Slice beat the Atlanta Bouncers 21-13 in a Dreambreaker. They followed that up with 3-1 wins over both the Las Vegas Night Owls and the SoCal Hard 8s. Saturday was tougher — they fell 1-3 to Utah, and lost a Dreambreaker to Dallas 18-21, finishing second in their group.

JLG (John Lucian Goins) and Jamie Wei were standout performers through Saturday. Nelson, Koller, and Hendershot all contributed in meaningful ways. Despite losing 0-3 to California on Sunday, Chicago actually moved up in the overall standings and currently sits as the last team inside the playoff line. They’re in a tough pool in Orlando, but they’ve already exceeded what most people expected from them this weekend.

Utah Black Diamonds Eliminated from Playoff Contention

The Utah Black Diamonds had a tough road in 2026. They came into the season with a solid core — Etta Tuionetoa, Allyce Jones, Connor Garnett, Tama Shimabukuro, Victoria DiMuzio, and Tyler Loong — but the roster shifted over time. Garnett was traded away in exchange for cash and a new player, Yuta Funemizu. The team showed flashes of what they could be, but never found a consistent rhythm.

Utah finished fourth in their pool group three events in a row, collecting 16 points in that stretch. But in their last two events, they earned just a single total point — which is essentially nothing in a league where every point matters. That kind of drop-off at the end of the season is brutal, and it ultimately ended their playoff hopes.

Utah now joins the Bay Area Breakers and the Florida Smash as the three teams officially eliminated from MLP playoff contention. For those three organizations, it’s a tough pill to swallow, but also an opportunity to evaluate, rebuild, and come back stronger next season.

The Night Owls and the Squeeze Dropped Out of Playoff Position

Two teams that were sitting inside the playoff picture heading into Chicago found themselves on the outside looking in after the weekend — the Las Vegas Night Owls and the Orlando Squeeze.

The Squeeze didn’t even compete in Chicago, but they still dropped two spots in the standings — from 12th (which was inside the playoff cutline) to 14th, which is outside it. That’s the brutal math of MLP standings. Orlando made some trades at the deadline, sending out Federico Staksrud and Milly Rane and bringing in Greg Dow and Lina Padegimaite, along with a significant amount of cash. The Squeeze now head into their home event in Orlando needing a strong performance to work their way back into playoff position. Playing in front of your home crowd can be a huge motivator — it’ll be interesting to see how that pressure affects them.

The Night Owls had one of the strangest weekends in Chicago. They went 0-4 against Dallas in their opening match, then came back to win a Dreambreaker over SoCal. They fell 1-3 to Chicago on Friday morning, then beat Utah 3-1 in the afternoon session. On Saturday, they dropped a 3-1 decision to Atlanta. On Sunday, they lost 0-3 to Texas, earning just 4 standings points for the entire event.

There’s a funny note here — Las Vegas won both of their afternoon matches and lost everything else. For a team called the Night Owls, there might actually be something to that. But jokes aside, this is a team with talent that needs to find a consistent formula heading into Orlando if they want to return to the playoffs.

The Updated Playoff Picture Heading into MLP Orlando

With the regular season down to its final event, the playoff race could not be tighter. The Dink’s full playoff guide breaks down every team’s situation in detail, including what each team needs to do in Orlando to secure or maintain a postseason spot. It’s worth reading if you want a complete picture of the standings and the math involved.

MLP Orlando is the last regular season stop, and there is genuinely everything to play for. Teams on the bubble are going to be playing with urgency. Teams that are already locked in will be jockeying for seeding. And wild cards like the California Black Bears, who have transformed their roster and found a groove at just the right time, could shake up the entire bracket.

Look for a full MLP Orlando preview dropping Wednesday morning ahead of Thursday’s opening matches. The 2026 MLP regular season is coming to a close, and it is going out with a bang. Keep your eyes on the Dallas Flash — they’ve won back-to-back events, they’re playing with confidence, and they look like a team that’s built for the moment when it matters most.

Whether you’ve been following pickleball for years or you just discovered it recently, events like MLP Chicago are a reminder of why this sport has grown so explosively. The competition is real, the athletes are elite, and every single match carries weight. That’s a formula that makes for some genuinely compelling sports entertainment — and it’s only going to get better in Orlando.