MLP is BACK! MLP Cup Preview⚡️❤️💙

It’s officially almost the start of Worlds week! I often affectionately refer to the PPA Tour as a “traveling circus” as it’s generally the same cast of characters week in and week out putting on a similar “show” without the most differentiation between events. But, if we are a circus, then Worlds is undoubtedly the main event. The PPA does an excellent job of making this event feel special despite it being a newer tournament. The buildout, the promotion, and pickleball boulevard all contribute to this feeling of “aura”.

Worlds week is beginning with the MLP Cup and I will be donning my St. Louis Shock uniform for my first few days in Dallas. I would be lying if I said I was extremely excited to participate in this event- it feels a bit anticlimactic after the completion of the playoffs, and I am still trying to avoid thinking about the pain of underperforming in New York City. Having to look at a Shock uniform reminds me of that pain, lol.

Regardless, it will be a really fun event and I’m sure that as soon as I am on that court I will be screaming my little heart out. Let’s break down all things MLP Cup together!

So, if you didn’t know, this event is going to be a throwback event to how MLP used to be played back when it was standalone tournaments. There will be 4 pools that will each function as a round robin, and 1 team will advance from each pool into the semis and finals. The pools are as follows:

We are the 1 seed, which again feels like a small dagger in the heart, but oh well, we’ll take it for sure😂. Our pool is the only one with 5 teams, but on paper it is definitely weaker than the other pools, so I cannot complain about the extra reps and we should be in a decent position to advance to the semifinals.

It’s so hard to predict the outcomes of individual MLP matches, especially considering the margins will be so thin with only 1 team advancing per pool, but predict I must!

Pool 1: Columbus Sliders Advance

Even after their title, a part of me wanted to pick Brooklyn, but Columbus should definitely be the favorite to advance out of the pool. This pool should come down to the winner of that head-to-head matchup, and even if the doubles are relatively even, you can’t bet against Columbus in a dreambreaker against Brooklyn.

To note, in this pool I have heard that the Bouncers may be playing some alternates, and I will also be super curious to see if Genie and Jessie will play together on the Flames. I’d assume so, it’s been a while since the drama but who knows. Alex Walker has been playing well lately, so even if one of their starters sits, I don’t think the Flames will be heavily affected.

Pool 2: New Jersey 5s Advance

To me, this pool looks the most equitable and dangerous. We will get to see the 5s / Mad Drops matchup again, but after the 5s wrecked them in the playoffs it’s hard to imagine that match going differently in Dallas than it did in New York City. A dreambreaker would be absolutely electric though.

The Chicago Slice are also a scary team very capable of pulling off an upset. Their women are long and hit the crap out of the ball, and if either of their men get hot in mixed it’s trouble. The Slice will probably need to figure out their relatively inexplicable dreambreaker woes if they want to pull off an upset against New Jersey or the Drops.

Pool 3: Dallas Flash Advance

Can’t bet against the Flash, and definitely not at home! The Flash have had a little longer to sit with the heartbreak of their season than the other top teams have, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are coming in hungry with a chip on their shoulder after all the flack they received for choosing Columbus in their first round. I expect the Flash to dispatch the rest of their opponents relatively handily in this pool, honestly.

Pool 4: STL Shock Advances

Can’t bet against myself, but also all the teams in this pool are solid and bring a fairly high level of volatility, and volatility scares me. I think every team in this pool will be nervous to play the Night Owls, you really don’t want to be the team that lost to a recently promoted challenger team… but I do think the Owls will get one or two wins in this pool- they’ll be playing free after all! They are a proper premier level team and I will be very up for the challenge when we face them.

The Diamonds and Squeeze are both super solid and the Squeeze gave us a run for our money in San Diego even with Dylan Frazier out. It’s our pool to lose, but winning it won’t be easy.

MLP is fun because we get to watch players and teams we wouldn’t get to see otherwise. I expect there will be a lot of fun matches this week, but here are some of the people I am most interested in watching.

Mya Bui, Miami Pickleball Club- Mya had an up-and-down season with Miami and definitely proved she can hang at the premier level. Some people were critical of her and I felt that she should be given much more grace. Improvement takes time, after all. However, I do feel Mya has now been playing for a while, and I will be very curious to see if she has developed her game since I last saw her. Her forehand technique is unconventional, but you absolutely cannot teach the kind of power, hands, and athleticism she naturally has.

Dekel Bar, Brooklyn Pickleball Team- Poor Dekel has had the most rotten of luck in the last couple of months with injuries, but I’m glad he seems to be back to full health. He is still probably lacking some match reps, but I think the MLP Cup will be the perfect opportunity for him to get a lot of reps in before Worlds, where he is defending a silver medal performance in men’s last year. We forget that we hardly saw Brooklyn at full strength last year, and if Dekel plays well I will be very intrigued to see how far Brooklyn can go.

Blaine Hovenier & Ryan Fu, SoCal Hard 8s- I’m putting these guys on my list largely just because they are must-watch pickleball. But, I am also curious to see how they perform as a men’s team… they ended their regular season on a bit of a hot streak in Dallas, and I wonder if it will continue. Assuming Ryan continues to play with Cailyn Campbell in mixed, I would also love to see them get a couple of wins.

Will Howells, New Jersey 5s- We haven’t seen much of Will in a while as he’s been on the APP, and this week will be a huge opportunity for him to show all of us PPA old heads that he will be a force to be reckoned with next year when he joins the tour full-time as a signed pro. I expect Will to come out hungry with a lot to prove, and I’m excited to watch it.

Augie Ge, Dallas Flash- Augie had an up-and-down MLP season, and definitely didn’t play to his potential at MLP Dallas last year. I expect he’s been super focused to refind that form and compete at a super high level this weekend. I also wonder how him and Tyra will click in mixed as I don’t believe Tyra has played the left in mixed since MLP San Diego- will they fall right back into their rhythm or will it take a few matches?

Ben Johns, LA Mad Drops- To some it might be odd to put the GOAT on this list, but… he is definitely interesting when it comes to MLP. We’ve played a heavy schedule and I’ll be curious as to the level he brings over the course of the matches. Will he continue to take as much court as humanly possible with Hunter? Will he chill out? How will he and Catherine do, especially if they face AL and Will? So many questions I can’t wait to have answered.

What are some of your questions for the weekend? Will an unexpected team swoop in and win it all? Will Columbus repeat? We will all know soon enough! See everyone in action on Friday when I begin play against the Utah Black Diamonds! GO SHOCK!⚡️❤️💙