Playing in their third straight weekend, the pressure was mounting for the St. Louis Shock to win an event in the 2026 Major League Pickleball (MLP) season.
Well, the pressure is off. They won in dominating fashion while also hosting the event in St. Louis at Chaifetz Arena, on the Saint Louis University campus.
The Shock finished third in Dallas, second in Columbus, and then just won the whole thing in St. Louis. The crazy part is that St. Louis is now 60% of the way through their regular season. They only play St. Pete, the Mid-Season Tournament, and Orlando from here on out.
How did the Shock do it?
They won all four pool play matches, only losing two games the entire weekend. Those two losses came in the fourth game of two different matches where they had already secured a regulation victory by winning the first three games.
The finals was a rematch of a pool play match from MLP Dallas, against the LA Mad Drops. In Dallas, the Mad Drops won in a Dreambreaker and Ben Johns played some of the best pickleball I have seen him play in the last couple of years.
The Shock had different plans in St. Louis. They came out fast and furious and won women’s 11-1. Then Hayden and Gabe made quick work of Ben and Max, 11-3. Anna and Hayden kept the momentum going and beat Ben and Jade, 11-5 for the clean 3-0 sweep.
The Shock now have 58 regular season standings points (1st) and are averaging 19.33 points per event, good for second place, behind the Mad Drops.
The Mad Drops Finish Second
OVerall, the Mad Drops also had a heckuva event, winning all five pool play matches, 3-1. The only two games Ben Johns lost were in the final on Super Sunday. The biggest issue the Mad Drops walked away from St. Louis is their women. Catherine and Jade have been elite for so long, but they went just 2-4 in St. Louis. Was this just a hiccup or a sign of things to come?
Pool Play Recap
Pool A Notes:
- The Bay Area Breakers were without Pablo Tellez all weekend and weren’t able to manage a match win. The biggest bright spot for the Breakers was Mya Bui and Ella Yeh defeating Jessie Irvine and Kaitlyn Christian 11-6.
- Speaking of the Bouncers - the vibes are officially off. The Bouncers can’t seem to find much chemistry, but are still teetering on the playoff cusp.
- Jack Sock is playing inspired pickleball for Orlando and I am here for it - the Squeeze women are going to need to be better than 1-4 in upcoming events for this team to really have a chance.
Pool B Notes:
- Despite recently trading for Alix Truong, the Flames only managed one match win and left the St. Louis event with zero standings points.
- The Hard 8s played in their first event and definitely went through some growing pains - Meghan Dizon, their highest drafted player, finished 47th out of 49 players and went 1-9 in her games.
- The Night Owls earned eight standings points and have a bit of a conundrum on their hands - they decided to start Braden Jacobson in men’s on Super Sunday, instead of Blaine Hovenier - do they stick with this, or does Hovenier go back into the lineup?
- Brooklyn also played in their first event of the year and guess what happened… Yep - Riley Newman hurt his foot and missed the last two days. Chris Haworth filled in admirably, going 4-4 in his games, and helped clinch third place on Super Sunday with Jackie Kawamoto, defeating Jack Sock and Lacy Schneemann when the pressure was on.
Event Standings
Overall Team Standings
Up next on the MLP schedule is MLP Austin, which starts at 9am on Thursday (I know, because the first match of the event is the Black Bears vs. the Miami Pickleball Club and we play at 9am for some ungodly reason).
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