The first event of the 2026 MLP Season is in the books and boy did it bring the drama.

The new format of pool play into Super Sunday (Super Monday this time) - HIT

Having event winners with points on the line on Sunday - HIT

Allowing all six players to play in the lineups - BIG HIT

Many of the changes the league made in the off season went extremely well. Teams were engaged and nearly every match mattered.

In fact, there was a three way tie for fourth place in Pool B that had to be determined by multiple tiebreakers:

🚨4th place DRAMA in MLP DALLAS🚨

Pool B:

First Tiebreaker is matches won:
Utah - 1-4
Bay Area - 1-4
Carolina - 1-4

Second tie breaker is head to head:
Bay Area beat Utah 3-1
Utah Beat Carolina 3-1
Carolina beat Bay Area 3-1

Third tie breaker is game difference:
- Bay Area…

— Erik Tice (@azetice) May 25, 2026

Let’s get into the results.

Big Winners

LA Mad Drops

The LA Mad Drops won the entire event, going undefeated throughout the entire weekend. In the final pool play match, LA beat St. Louis in a Dreambreaker, 21-15:

In the final, LA took care of business, beating the Columbus Sliders, winners of Pool A, 3-1 in regulation. 

What stood out for LA? First and foremost BEN JOHNS. The GOAT really played well and played like a monster in both the St. Louis match and the Columbus match in mixed doubles. He was flying all over the court, super energetic, and engaged. 

Max Freeman got better as the weekend progressed and Catherine played great alongside the ever steady Jade Kawamoto. Also, they were able to bring in Gabe Joseph off the bench to help solidify the Dreambreaker against St. Louis, so everyone got to contribute.

Columbus Sliders

No one in the media picks group picked Columbus to win the pool. Not. One. Person.

@MajorLeaguePB MattyP Media Pick'em Contest Week 1 results: well, its official, @azetice is king. He trounced the field, being the only one to have faith in the @lamaddrops to win. Bring up the rear? @NicoTheLefty and @DallasFlashPB super-fan @readmynewslettr . It's a… pic.twitter.com/7iQea3muZc

— Todd Boss (@toddeboss) May 26, 2026

The Sliders started the season in a whole, when Parris Todd got suspended for one PPA event, one MLP event, and $50,000 for attending an unapproved event in Japan in late 2025. They even lost their first match to the Orlando Squeeze and got dominated in that Dreambreaker, 7-21. Things looked… ominous.

The Sliders had to rely on newcomers Alix Truong and Aussie Danni Townsend. How did they fair? They went a combined 14-6 overall in their games and solidified a pool win for the Sliders. CJ and Andrei were a big part of the wins obviously, but no one knew what to expect from Truong and Townsend.

The Sliders grabbed a massive 18 regular season standings points and second place overall in an event where they weren’t at full capacity. Oh yeah - they are also hosting the MLP event that begins this Thursday (be on the lookout for a preview Wednesday afternoon). They have a ton of momentum headed into this week.

Jack Sock and the Orlando Squeeze

Jack and Fed both said they were disappointed with a 7th place finish and felt they played better than 7th. I would agree.

Sock finished 7-3 in his games this weekend, with a +17 point differential. He won four out of five with Lacy in mixed and played mostly on the right with Fed, winning three out of five. This team seems to be one piece away from really contending for a top four seed, as they played three Dreambreakers, and lost two of them.

Carolina Hogs’ Alli Phillips & Samantha Parker

The Hogs began the season with… low expectations. The bright light this weekend was their women’s doubles duo.

Here are Parker and Phillips’ games:

• St. Louis Shock (Fahey & Bright) - Loss - 7-11
• Utah Black Diamonds (Etta & Allyce) - Win - 11-6
• Bay Area Breakers (Genie E & Mya) - Win - 11-4
• LA Mad Drops (Catherine & Jade) - Loss - 9-11
• Texas Ranchers (Lea and Layne) - Win 11-9

Parker and Phillips were 3-2 in women’s doubles games, only losing by two to the Mad Drops and scoring 7 against the best women’s team in the pool.

Player Standings

I keep track of player and team standings using a publicly available stats sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t7w-P8PgjgzatvRmrOJpj3h54mH7iWfdozchX8FCRNk/edit?usp=sharing

Top 15 Players from MLP Dallas:

Regular Season Standings after MLP Dallas:

Event Awards

This is a brand new segment I am going to make up as I go along. I will be handing out awards for each MLP stop.

MLP Dallas MVP: Ben Johns

He played super clutch when he needed to and willed his team to the first event win of the 2026 season

MLP Dallas Surprise Star: Jack Sock

Again, he finished 10th overall out of all players and was engaged and enthusiastic. Sock is one of the 

MLP Dallas Overperforming Mixed Team: Genie Erokhina and Pablo Tellez

They beat Eric Oncins and Layne Sleeth and then Ben Johns and Jade Kawamoto. Let me say that again - Pablo and Genie beat Ben Johns and Eric Oncins in mixed in the same weekend.