Mad Drops win MLP Dallas, open 2026 season undefeated
Los Angeles rode a comeback, depth and mixed-doubles punch to beat Columbus 3-1 in Dallas and become the first 2026 MLP event winners.
The Mad Drops showed exactly what wins a team event now: a roster that can absorb an early punch, flip the mixed-doubles board, and finish when the pressure is highest. Los Angeles left Pickler Universe in Carrollton, Texas, with the MLP Dallas title after beating the Columbus Sliders 3-1 in the final and becoming the only undefeated team at the season-opening stop.
That mattered because Dallas was not a one-off trophy chase. It was the first of nine regular-season events on the 2026 Major League Pickleball calendar, and the league’s new format put real weight on every result. Pool play ran Friday through Sunday, Monday was reserved for event standings matches because of Memorial Day weekend, and the event produced standings points that made the winner unmistakable. Los Angeles banked 25 points, Columbus took 18, St. Louis finished third with 15, and New Jersey was fourth with 12.
The final followed the script that local players can learn from fast. Columbus grabbed the opener when Danni-Elle Townsend and Alix Truong edged Catherine Parenteau and Jade Kawamoto 13-11 in women’s doubles, but Los Angeles did not chase that loss with panic. It answered by winning men’s doubles, then swept both mixed doubles matches. The clincher came when Jade Kawamoto and Ben Johns closed out Truong and Andrei Daescu 11-6 in the second mixed doubles game.
That finish was no accident. Los Angeles leaned on a six-player core of Johns, Kawamoto, Max Freeman, Catherine Parenteau, Gabe Joseph and Genie Bouchard, and the depth showed all weekend. Columbus, by contrast, arrived without suspended starter Parris Todd, which forced Truong and Townsend into the women’s lineup and changed the shape of the final from the start. In a team format like this, having enough high-level doubles combinations matters as much as having one headline name.
The Mad Drops’ path to the title also proved how quickly momentum can carry from one round to the next. In their final group-play match against St. Louis, they fell behind 0-2 before sweeping the mixed doubles matches and winning the DreamBreaker 21-15. That comeback mattered because it set them up for Monday’s standings round and then the championship match less than a day later.
Dallas also served as the first live test of the league’s effort to make event winners easier to identify. MLP said its 2025 format drove a 52 percent year-over-year jump in attendance and more than doubled sponsorship revenue, and this opening weekend showed why the league wanted a cleaner standings race. The next stop comes in Columbus, May 28-31, and if Dallas is any guide, the teams that survive the summer will be the ones that can win after dropping the first game, not just after starting hot.
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