The Worst Decision in MLP History!?

Wow. Just wow. San Diego absolutely delivered. I feel this weekend was a reminder of how the team format is so essential and key to pickleball’s growth. Both formats have a place, but there is absolutely no denying the electricity of Major League Pickleball. Just look at this reaction from JW - a guy known for being as stoic and ice-like as they come. I watched this live and it honestly gave me chills.

While this moment from JW was undoubtedly a highlight of the weekend for me… it doesn’t change the fact that it probably should not have happened. Without further ado, let’s get into the recap!

Hard to believe anyone in pickleball could be feeling worse today than the Dallas Flash players and organization. Everyone wants to hold up this trophy and after all of their success, going out like they did is undoubtedly gut-wrenching. I’ve said this before, but having a choice is both a privilege and a burden. You control your own destiny, but that choice also comes with the inherent possibility of choosing wrong. Which, in hindsight (and honestly foresight too in this case), the Flash absolutely chose wrong.

It’s been shared on Twitter and by owner Mark Molthan that after the Shock chose to play Orlando the Flash players voted on who to pick for their QF match. We will probably never know who voted for what, but a unanimous vote would be very surprising to me. Many members of pickleball Twitter lauded the Flash organization for giving the players the ability to vote on their opponent, but I was personally always against this democratic process.

As captain, I generally think it is my responsibility to be very involved in the tough decisions we, the Shock, make. I am willing, along with ownership, to bear the burden both of choosing AND the blame associated with choosing wrong. I would not want everyone on the team to share the same burden, as then when there’s dissent, there is going to be finger-pointing, defensiveness, and impacts on chemistry when things go south. You can’t avoid it, we’re all human. It’s better if everyone just hates me and I hate myself rather than a bunch of finger-pointing back and forth. (With Erik now I do a lot less, and we can hate him too!) If Mark Molthan or Julie Johnson had made the final decision (with significant player input of course), at least most of the blame would have been placed on them rather than on the players.

This tweet from Zane perfectly sums up the Sliders v Flash playoff series, lol.

But enough harping on the Flash, let’s talk about how absolutely freaking amazing this series was. As a fan, you simply cannot ask for better than three straight dreambreakers on three consecutive days. You could see adjustments being made from match to match, and the chess of a multi-match series playing out in real time. Every player had their moments, on both teams.

I have to shout out Andrei and Lea’s dreambreaker performances- Lea struggled in doubles but came up huge for the Sliders in the second and third dreambreakers (8-0 against Tyra in the second one kept their playoffs hopes alive, she more than deserves her flowers). Andrei was an absolute animal- if you watch back every point he played against JW over the weekend, JW did not win one point that Andrei did not make him earn. 0 missed serves, returns, routine passing shots, or easy volleys. JW won plenty of points, but not one was free, and it’s not even like Andrei pushed or played conservatively at all! I was so impressed.

The rest of San Diego was still exciting, but less eventful. All the other playoff series were won 2-0, with only one dreambreaker in the six matches. The main takeaway from our match versus the Squeeze were that Kate and I will need to step it up in WD for us to win and that Grayson Goldin brings the energy big time. Happy for him and how well he did for the Squeeze in their last four matches of the season.

The best moment of the 5s / Ranchers match was undoubtedly the double bird to the 5s bench. I’ve never heard of “flapping the wings”, but when someone said that to describe the manner in which Christian delivered his double bird, I found it hilarious. Arguing with and doing that towards his coach was probably not the best move from him, but one thing about Christian is he is authentically himself. Probably won’t be getting another bird from him for a while but man oh man I can’t wait for the next one!

Tough for the Ranchers for Kaitlyn and Tina to not close their women’s match against AL and Meghan again, if they get that WD in match 1 or a few points go differently in the match 2 dreambreaker this totally could have gone to a deciding match.

Brooklyn vs LA was underwhelming, and Dekel definitely did not look match-ready. A very unlucky break for Brooklyn this year, but a lot to be proud of and I am sure they will be back hungrier than ever in 2026. The Mad Drops are also looking very scary and should be a legitimate problem for whoever plays them in NYC. Will it be us? Stay tuned for MLP’s official announcement of our pick👀👀👀

Thanks for reading everyone! I will preview MLP New York on Thursday, the reasoning behind our semifinal pick, and what will hopefully be the best weekend of pickleball EVER! You better not miss it and you better be absolutely GLUED to PickleballTV this weekend! No excuses! Go Shock!!!