The Dink MiLP v4: Four players, four games to 21, one roster. Here's what you need to know.
Minor League Pickleball comes in more than one format. v4 is the four-player gendered version, and if you've spotted it on a schedule, you probably have questions.
What is v4? How is it different from the original MiLP format or v3? Do I need four friends who all play at the same level?
Fair. Let's cover it.
How The Dink MiLP v4 Works
The short version: v4 is a round-robin team competition with guaranteed matches. Gendered teams of four players are broken into divisions based on their combined DUPR rating.
Top teams advance to a bracket playoff.
Mary Margaret Stewart
The v4 Matchup Format
In v4, it's the original Minor League Pickleball match format (four doubles games and a Dreambreaker if it's tied), just with single-gender teams instead of two men and two women.
Four games per match. All doubles, all to 21, rally scoring, win by two.
Win three of the four games and the matchup is yours. Split them 2-2, and you're not done. That's when the Dreambreaker comes out.
The Dreambreaker is the tiebreaker. All four players go to singles, one from each team on the court at a time, switching every four rallies, rally scoring to 21, win by two. It's the same closer the pros play out in MLP.
You'll pair up differently across your two games, so a roster of four ends up fielding a mix of pairings over the four games.
One wrinkle worth knowing: the away team sets its lineup first, and that lineup holds for all four games. Who you pair with whom is a decision you make before the first serve, not something you adjust mid-match.
Divisions are set up so you're playing teams at your level. Combined DUPR rating determines where you land.
The Dink MiLP Guarantee
Same as always:
- Predictable playing times.
- Guaranteed matches. You're not showing up to play one and go home.
- Level-based competition. You're not getting sandbagged.
Jason Flamm
Where You Fit
v4 runs in gendered DUPR divisions for both men and women, meaning a team of 4 women would compete against another team of 4 women, and the same goes for men’s teams.
Teams are grouped by combined DUPR rating, so the competition is level-appropriate by design.
If you've played any MiLP format before, the structure will feel familiar. Four players, one roster, one afternoon.
Mary Margaret Stewart
Why Four
In v3, there are three players, three possible pairings, and everyone plays twice. Clean.
v4 hands that decision to the team. Do you put out your best doubles teams first or last? Who anchors and who starts? Which pairing never happens?
With four playing slots and no repeat duos, captains have real choices to make. Roster construction gets more interesting, not less.
And since it's single-gender, the matchups stay direct. Your team of four against their team of four.
v4 Counts For Championships
v4 is part of the MiLP ecosystem, and it's a legitimate path toward the bigger stages in amateur pickleball.
Play well during the season, and your team can earn a spot in the MiLP Championships.
Luke Burton
Find a v4 Event
v4 events are running all season. Head to dupr.com/minorleague and look for a v4 format near you.
Still not sure? Go play one. That usually answers it.
Luke Burton
Mary Margaret Stewart
Mary Margaret is The Dink's Marketing Manager. She enjoys cooking, traveling, craft coffee, and photography.
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