MLP 2025 Power Rankings 3.0
The 2nd and final waiver wire period will take place next week on Monday, June 16th for the Premier division (Challenger waivers are on Wednesday, June 18th). It’s the last chance teams will have to make a waiver wire acquisition this season, although the trade deadline isn’t until July 16th.
With the amount of subs that we are seeing play, it may be helpful for some of these contending teams to make a point of upgrading their 3rd gender spot. There are a number of men out there – AJ Koller (free agent), Martin Emmrich (free agent), Roscoe Bellamy (unprotected) – who are undoubtedly an upgrade for the 3rd men’s spot on a handful of teams.
As we wait to see if any teams make any additional moves and we have a bit of a reprieve from MLP, it’s a good time to bring forward our 3.0 version of the power rankings for 2025.
1. Dallas Flash – They remain undefeated on the season and will likely stay at #1 in the power rankings for the entire regular season, unless they lose multiple matches to the Shock and the 5’s.
2. St. Louis Shock – We aren’t seeing Kate Fahey developing the weapons to turn herself into an elite female player quite yet, but she doesn’t have to be an elite female on this Shock team. Fahey and Gabe Tardio are winning a high percentage of their matches, and that gives this team a lot of room for error when everything isn’t going their way. Dreambreaker losses to a team like the Mad Drops are going to happen over the course of the season.
3. New Jersey 5’s – Weird losses will happen during a long season and the 5’s loss to the Utah Black Diamonds without Meghan Dizon is not cause for concern in any capacity. Dizon and Zane Navratil had a better showing in Daytona, and they have to consistently play at a higher level in the second half for the 5’s to be a championship team.
4. LA Mad Drops – The Mad Drops are on a heater right now and that puts them at #4 in the power rankings. If we had to choose, we would probably favor both the Sliders and the Ranchers over the Mad Drops in a best 2 out of 3. That being said, the Mad Drops have four very capable partnerships and it doesn’t take a lot for them to get to a Dreambreaker. All bets are off once they get to a Dreambreaker.
5. Columbus Sliders – A long hiatus without seeing their full squad in action has us keeping the Sliders at #5.
6. Brooklyn Pickleball Team – Brooklyn’s mixed pairings have played really well, and their women’s team should be better than their current record. The problem they have to deal with is how serious Riley Newman’s groin injury is.
7. Texas Ranchers – This could be too big of a tumble down the power rankings for the Ranchers. The issue is that they don’t have a women’s team or a #1 mixed team that will just go out there and guarantee them a win against a certain level of opponent, despite some close losses. We’re curious if the Ranchers have had any discussions about switching their mixed pairings around.
8. Orlando Squeeze – It may not be fair to drop Orlando to #8 when they haven’t played the last two MLP events, but the Austin event appeared to expose Orlando for what they are. They just don’t have enough combined strength between their two women to be considered ahead of any of the other teams in the top 8, until proven otherwise.
9. Utah Black Diamonds – Utah is the best of the worst as it stands currently. It would be more surprising to see Utah move higher than #9 in the power rankings than it would be to see Utah drop in the power rankings in the second half of the season.
10. Miami Pickleball Club – Much like Orlando, Miami was exposed as more of the pretender we thought they were in MLP Austin. Nevertheless, they are performing above pre-season expectations with a roster that still has the capability to get better in the 2nd half of the season.
11. Chicago Slice – Even though no one saw them as championship contenders prior to the season, the Slice have been most disappointing team 2025. The trade for Vivian Glozman was probably a win for upside and future building given their early struggles, but we’re getting to the point with Glozman where she feels more like DJ Young at his peak – a frustratingly tantalizing talent who never realizes their true potential – rather than a top 5 or top 10 female. The biggest problem with the Slice might be the fact that neither James Ignatowich nor Max Freeman are coming close to playing at the level the Slice need from them. Losing to the Hard Eights in a Dreambreaker is not ideal.*
12. Phoenix Flames – It was rather predictable that the Flames would, well, flame out this season. We aggressively ranked them at #10 in our preseason power rankings, but their upside has not been realized in any capacity primarily due to Genie Bouchard making zero strides with her game in 2025. Jack Sock has had his share of inconsistent play (5-9 in men’s doubles), but at least Sock has demonstrated the ability to play at a top 10/15 level on occasion. It is pretty clear that their 3rd female, Alex Walker, would be a better doubles option for the Flames. Bouchard is 1-12 in mixed and 3-10 in women’s, for a combined 4-22 record on the season.
13. Atlanta Bouncers – When Jaume Martinez Vich isn’t smiling, you know the vibes aren’t good. It’s nearly impossible for an outsider to understand the dynamics going on within an organization, but making a trade for a declining veteran to salvage a disappointing season is not ideal from a future team building perspective. Victoria DiMuzio is 1-11 in mixed and 4-8 in women’s for a combined 5-19 record, and will now be isolated on the left side playing with Vivienne David. Glozman was their only female that had trade value, but the biggest problem for this Bouncers squad appears to lie with DiMuzio’s development.
14. Carolina Hogs – They could be a little bit higher on this list after a win over the Ranchers in Daytona, but we want to see another event with more effort from Ben. The big question for the Hogs is whether there are going to make a waiver move after choosing to expose Collin Johns and Liz Truluck* on the waiver wire, which allows them to drop either Brandon French or Liz Truluck for another team’s unprotected player. Helena Jansen and Roscoe Bellamy are two players that stand out as upgrades available.
15. New York Hustlers – Helena Spiridis is back in Australia due to visa issues. Donald Young missed the Daytona event. Zane Ford missed the majority of Daytona with a health issue. There’s not much to be optimistic about when the play of the on-site alternate was the most positive story of the weekend. To be fair, Stephen Madonia and his soft hands looked solid in Daytona.
16. SoCal Hard Eights – The Hard Eights might end up moving off this #16 spot in the next version of the power rankings, but they stay here because they lost in regulation to the Hustlers in Daytona. SoCal beat Chicago in a Dreambreaker and had competitive games in losses to the Shock, Hogs and Ranchers, despite losing 4-0 in each of those matchups.
*this article has been edited to correct that the Hard Eights beat the Slice in a Dreambreaker
*this article has been edited to correct that the Hogs protected Tammy Emmrich, not Liz Truluck.
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