The first hurdle of the Major League Pickleball (MLP) 2026 post season has been cleared, but the opening playoff round offered little comfort to the teams waiting in the quarterfinals.
Brooklyn Pickleball Team, Dallas Flash, Palm Beach Royals and Texas Ranchers all advanced, yet each took a different route to the next stage, with injuries, momentum and DreamBreakers shaping the weekend.
The four highest-seeded teams from the regular season – New Jersey 5s, St. Louis Shock, Los Angeles Mad Drops and Columbus Sliders – had already secured quarterfinal berths through byes. The remaining eight teams battled through best-of-three-match series for the other four spots.
Brooklyn Pickleball Team beat SoCal Hard Eights
Brooklyn survived a serious scare before eventually beating SoCal. With Armaan Bhatia sidelined by injury, Brooklyn opted to face the Hard Eights, but the decision almost backfired immediately. SoCal pushed the opening match into a DreamBreaker on Saturday, only for Brooklyn to scrape through 24-22 after late heroics from Jackie Kawamoto.
The fifth seed then closed out the series with a 3-1 victory on Sunday. SoCal’s Cailyn Campbell, Will MacKinnon, Meghan Dizon and Rafa Lenhard, along with head coach Adam Stone, deserve credit for making Brooklyn work for the win. However, Brooklyn’s own fitness remains a concern, particularly Rachel Rohrabacher’s health, heading into the quarterfinals.
Dallas Flash beat Las Vegas Night Owls
Dallas extended their remarkable run to 13 consecutive victories after sweeping Las Vegas. The Flash entered the post season on an 11-match winning streak and had also captured consecutive Super Sunday belts in San Diego and Chicago.
Las Vegas initially looked capable of disrupting that momentum. Zoey Wang and Callie Smith won women’s doubles, while Roscoe Bellamy and Clayton Powell led JW Johnson and Augie Ge 9-5 in men’s doubles. Johnson and Ge responded with a 13-11 comeback before Dallas won both mixed doubles games to take the match 3-1. The Flash then delivered a 3-0 victory in the second match.
Palm Beach Royals beat Chicago Slice
Chicago’s unlikely postseason journey ended against Palm Beach. After their fairytale run in Orlando, the Slice entered the playoffs with confidence, but Sofia Sewing’s perfect 4-0 weekend proved decisive. Palm Beach won both matches 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals in its first year of operation.
Texas Ranchers beat Atlanta Bouncers
The most dramatic series belonged to and Atlanta. Despite being the higher seed, Texas had lost their regular-season meeting in an MLP Austin DreamBreaker. Both postseason matches again required DreamBreakers.
Atlanta led 2-0 in the opening match, but Texas won both mixed doubles games before taking the DreamBreaker. Kaitlyn Christian, acquired from Atlanta earlier this season, then delivered the decisive point on Sunday. The No. 3-ranked women’s singles player on the PPA Tour helped keep the Ranchers alive.
The Playoffs – Newport Beach now awaits. New Jersey, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Columbus will choose their quarterfinal opponents on Monday, with play beginning Friday in Southern California.