U.S. Open Sunday live updates, leaderboard: J.J. Spaun wins in dramatic fashion
J.J. Spaun played the two best shots of his life when it matter most. The result: He's won the U.S. Open.
Tied with Robert MacIntyre at +1, Spaun went to the driveable 17th and launched this shot:
ONE OF THE BEST DRIVES OF THE DAY ON 17!Co-leader J.J. Spaun with that left for EAGLE! pic.twitter.com/iPCK0KCOjD
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
He would miss the eagle, but make the birdie, to grab a one stroke lead. All he needed was a par on 18. he would do one better.
WHAT A PUTT!!!!J.J. SPAUN WINS THE U.S. OPEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/EWdYQeDAzF
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2025
Spaun started his day with five bogeys on the front nine, and yet survived to win his first major champinoship.
All times ET
Sunday, June 15 USA: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. NBC: 12 p.m. - 7 p.m.
(As of 7:58 ET; players in bold have finished)
1. J.J. Spaun E
2. Robert MacIntyre +1
3. Viktor Hovland +2
T4. Tyrrell Hatton +3Adam ScottSam BurnsCam YoungCarlos Ortiz
View full leaderboard here
WHAT A PUTT!!!!J.J. SPAUN WINS THE U.S. OPEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/EWdYQeDAzF
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2025
Tied with MacIntyre, J.J. Spaun needed something at 17, and he got it with this brilliant drive on the short par 4:
ONE OF THE BEST DRIVES OF THE DAY ON 17!Co-leader J.J. Spaun with that left for EAGLE! pic.twitter.com/iPCK0KCOjD
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
He missed the eagle, barely, but made the birdie. He's the new leader.
The mark has been set: Robert MacIntyre is in at +1. A solid par at 18 gives him the clubhouse lead, and that has to be comfortable considering all the bogeys that are still out there on the course.
Advantage MacIntyre.
And maybe he has a right to be. With his ball on the edge of the fairway on 15, Burns asked for a ruling, saying he was in standing water. Twice officials told him no, despite water shooting up with every practice swing Burns made, clearly in an effort to prove his point.
Force to play it where it sat, Burns hooked a splashy shot into the left rough, a shot that sure looked like it took on a lot of water.
The result: Double bogey.
This is where Burns just hit on 15. pic.twitter.com/DaA0JyX1nQ
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) June 15, 2025
Spaun found trouble on 15, but had a 12-footer for par. It slid by and now he slides back into a share of the lead at 1-over.
Spaun with a bogey on 15.We now have a four-way tie for the lead at +1. pic.twitter.com/rJLzaTptkR
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Robert MacIntyre is 2-under on his round, and now just one back after a birdie at 17. With one hole left, he can set the new clubhouse lead.
BIRDIE ON 17! BOBBY MAC IS ONE BACK! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/zzYWKGUdHV
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
This one will hurt. Seven feet for birdie at 14 and he hit it a little soft. A missed opportunity for Burns.
It could have been worse for Adam Scott on 14 after driving into a trap and having to chip out sideways ... still in the rough. A brilliant approach gave him a look at par, but it just missed. He's back to +2
Scottie Scheffler, with a bogey at 18, moves to +4, in a tie with Jon Rahm for the clubhouse lead. And now, they continue to wait.
J.J. Spaun could have ejected himself from the tourney after five bogeys on his front nine. But now ... he's the solo leader. That's some serious toughness right there.
SPAUN AGAIN! FOR THE LEAD!J.J. Spaun leads the U.S. Open with 4 holes to play. pic.twitter.com/9lkqVrJ7z2
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
We wrote him off an hour or two ago, but here he is, having missed putt after putt after putt and still, Scottie Scheffler is now just two holes back after a birdie at 17. He has just one hole left to get lower. So, it's still a longshot for Scheffler, but he's in the mix ... as usual.
And just like that... Scottie is only 2 back of the lead! pic.twitter.com/oVvRkbLzXG
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Sam Burns gives another back, pushing him to +1 and ... into a traffic jam atop the leaderboard.
1. Sam Burns +1Adam Scott Carlos Ortiz Tyrrell HattonJ.J. Spaun
Wow.
Whoa ohhh ohh ohh ohh, hangin' tough.
Had to do it.
J.J. Spaun, he of the brutal off-the-stick approach earlier in the round and five bogeys on the front, is just one back after a long birdie at 12.
J.J. SPAUN! 40 FEET FOR BIRDIE! 🐥He's one back. pic.twitter.com/bYLYL9Y1zh
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Tyrrell Hatton has the best round of the day for the leaders, and now he's dropped another birdie at 13 to get to +1, one off the lead.
Adam Scott put his approach in the tall grass behind the green. Sam Burns left his on the slope of a trap. Neither got on the green from there ... and from there, things continued to derail for both players.
Both had long bogey putts.
Scott made his, Burns missed his. And now zero players are under par, and there is still hope for Jon Rahm in the clubhouse at +4.
From bad to worse for Sam Burns on 11. pic.twitter.com/tfQkA6qhSJ
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Let's make a note of this: At 10, Sam Burns hit his approach first, just before the rain fell, and put it to short birdie range. He made it.
BURNS BIRDIE! 🐥His first of the final round extends his lead to 2. pic.twitter.com/Guo0joAnF3
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Adam Scott was next, and that's when rain started coming down hard, making for a more difficult shot. He left it well short. He nearly holed the birdie putt, but it came up just short.
Luck of the draw on that one.
Play continues as a drizzle starts to fall ... and maybe more than a drizzle. But really depends on where you are on the course. Adam Scott is being pelted at 10, Tyrrell Hatton is dry at 11
A bogey at 9 for Burns, but he'll take it after being in the thick, thick rough off the tee, then getting a bad break with his approach spinning off the green. Lead over Adam Scott is just 1 shot.
Sam Burns put his tee shot on No. 9 deep into the hay on the left.He went on to make bogey. His lead is down to 1. pic.twitter.com/MiZQPZqOz7
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Let's start with Jon Rahm sitting with the clubhouse lead at +4. Does Sam Burns and the rest drop all the way back?
I don't think all seven players between Rahm and the top are falling that far, but then, Oakmont is certainly testing the players right now.
The guess here is that +1 wins it.
A missed green on the par 3 leads to a bogey, and now Sam Burns is the leader by 2 and the only player under par.
The only player in red figures.Sam Burns leads the U.S. Open by 2 shots. pic.twitter.com/atNPPgCo21
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
(As of 7:58 ET; players in bold have finished)
1. J.J. Spaun E
2. Robert MacIntyre +1
3. Viktor Hovland +2
T4. Tyrrell Hatton +3Adam ScottSam BurnsCam YoungCarlos Ortiz
View full leaderboard here
WHAT A PUTT!!!!J.J. SPAUN WINS THE U.S. OPEN!!!! pic.twitter.com/EWdYQeDAzF
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 16, 2025
Tied with MacIntyre, J.J. Spaun needed something at 17, and he got it with this brilliant drive on the short par 4:
ONE OF THE BEST DRIVES OF THE DAY ON 17!Co-leader J.J. Spaun with that left for EAGLE! pic.twitter.com/iPCK0KCOjD
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
He missed the eagle, barely, but made the birdie. He's the new leader.
The mark has been set: Robert MacIntyre is in at +1. A solid par at 18 gives him the clubhouse lead, and that has to be comfortable considering all the bogeys that are still out there on the course.
Advantage MacIntyre.
And maybe he has a right to be. With his ball on the edge of the fairway on 15, Burns asked for a ruling, saying he was in standing water. Twice officials told him no, despite water shooting up with every practice swing Burns made, clearly in an effort to prove his point.
Force to play it where it sat, Burns hooked a splashy shot into the left rough, a shot that sure looked like it took on a lot of water.
The result: Double bogey.
This is where Burns just hit on 15. pic.twitter.com/DaA0JyX1nQ
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) June 15, 2025
Spaun found trouble on 15, but had a 12-footer for par. It slid by and now he slides back into a share of the lead at 1-over.
Spaun with a bogey on 15.We now have a four-way tie for the lead at +1. pic.twitter.com/rJLzaTptkR
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Robert MacIntyre is 2-under on his round, and now just one back after a birdie at 17. With one hole left, he can set the new clubhouse lead.
BIRDIE ON 17! BOBBY MAC IS ONE BACK! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/zzYWKGUdHV
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
This one will hurt. Seven feet for birdie at 14 and he hit it a little soft. A missed opportunity for Burns.
It could have been worse for Adam Scott on 14 after driving into a trap and having to chip out sideways ... still in the rough. A brilliant approach gave him a look at par, but it just missed. He's back to +2
Scottie Scheffler, with a bogey at 18, moves to +4, in a tie with Jon Rahm for the clubhouse lead. And now, they continue to wait.
J.J. Spaun could have ejected himself from the tourney after five bogeys on his front nine. But now ... he's the solo leader. That's some serious toughness right there.
SPAUN AGAIN! FOR THE LEAD!J.J. Spaun leads the U.S. Open with 4 holes to play. pic.twitter.com/9lkqVrJ7z2
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
We wrote him off an hour or two ago, but here he is, having missed putt after putt after putt and still, Scottie Scheffler is now just two holes back after a birdie at 17. He has just one hole left to get lower. So, it's still a longshot for Scheffler, but he's in the mix ... as usual.
And just like that... Scottie is only 2 back of the lead! pic.twitter.com/oVvRkbLzXG
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Sam Burns gives another back, pushing him to +1 and ... into a traffic jam atop the leaderboard.
1. Sam Burns +1Adam Scott Carlos Ortiz Tyrrell HattonJ.J. Spaun
Wow.
Whoa ohhh ohh ohh ohh, hangin' tough.
Had to do it.
J.J. Spaun, he of the brutal off-the-stick approach earlier in the round and five bogeys on the front, is just one back after a long birdie at 12.
J.J. SPAUN! 40 FEET FOR BIRDIE! 🐥He's one back. pic.twitter.com/bYLYL9Y1zh
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Tyrrell Hatton has the best round of the day for the leaders, and now he's dropped another birdie at 13 to get to +1, one off the lead.
Adam Scott put his approach in the tall grass behind the green. Sam Burns left his on the slope of a trap. Neither got on the green from there ... and from there, things continued to derail for both players.
Both had long bogey putts.
Scott made his, Burns missed his. And now zero players are under par, and there is still hope for Jon Rahm in the clubhouse at +4.
From bad to worse for Sam Burns on 11. pic.twitter.com/tfQkA6qhSJ
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Let's make a note of this: At 10, Sam Burns hit his approach first, just before the rain fell, and put it to short birdie range. He made it.
BURNS BIRDIE! 🐥His first of the final round extends his lead to 2. pic.twitter.com/Guo0joAnF3
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Adam Scott was next, and that's when rain started coming down hard, making for a more difficult shot. He left it well short. He nearly holed the birdie putt, but it came up just short.
Luck of the draw on that one.
Play continues as a drizzle starts to fall ... and maybe more than a drizzle. But really depends on where you are on the course. Adam Scott is being pelted at 10, Tyrrell Hatton is dry at 11
A bogey at 9 for Burns, but he'll take it after being in the thick, thick rough off the tee, then getting a bad break with his approach spinning off the green. Lead over Adam Scott is just 1 shot.
Sam Burns put his tee shot on No. 9 deep into the hay on the left.He went on to make bogey. His lead is down to 1. pic.twitter.com/MiZQPZqOz7
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
Let's start with Jon Rahm sitting with the clubhouse lead at +4. Does Sam Burns and the rest drop all the way back?
I don't think all seven players between Rahm and the top are falling that far, but then, Oakmont is certainly testing the players right now.
The guess here is that +1 wins it.
A missed green on the par 3 leads to a bogey, and now Sam Burns is the leader by 2 and the only player under par.
The only player in red figures.Sam Burns leads the U.S. Open by 2 shots. pic.twitter.com/atNPPgCo21
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 15, 2025
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New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Your guide to the Rafael Devers trade. Plus: Shohei Ohtani back on the mound tonight
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More Betts angle: 'It's just crazy' — Betts reacts to former teammate's trade. February 2024: Devers calls out the Red Sox front office for not investing more money in the roster. Feb. 15, 2025: Red Sox do invest more money in the roster, signing third baseman Alex Bregman. This is presumably not what Devers meant. Feb. 17: Devers says he's not moving off third base. March 13: After conversations with manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Devers says he is, in fact, moving off third base. May 8: After an injury to first baseman Triston Casas, the team talks to Devers about playing first base. He speaks out again, saying, 'They can't expect me to play every single position,' and adding: 'They put me in this situation, and they told me that they didn't want to allow me to play any other position. Now, I think they should do their jobs, essentially, and hit the market and look for another player. 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Forbes
14 minutes ago
- Forbes
Bayern's Thrashing Of Auckland City Lays Bare Club World Cup Fallacy
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More Germany's Bayern Munich and New Zealand's Auckland City at the TQL stadium in Cincinnati on June 15, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images) Qualification for the Club World Cup followed two main routes: success in continental competitions over a three-year period between 2021 and 2024 and each confederation's ranking system. In practical terms, it means Liverpool, Napoli and Barcelona, who won the title in England, Italy and Spain this season are all absent. The same goes for Japan, Argentina, albeit with the caveat it produces two national champions each season, and Portugal. In fact, of the 20 countries represented in the US, only eight feature their respective domestic champions. The scenario is even more complicated as far as Auckland City is concerned. New Zealand's best two teams, Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix, play in Australia's A-League, which is part of the Asian Football Confederation. 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Forbes
14 minutes ago
- Forbes
Major League Pickleball Mid-Season Power Rankings
In honor of the New Jersey 5's Clown mascot, I have chosen Comic Sans for the font in this image. The Major League Pickleball (MLP) season is now halfway done, believe it or not. We've now held 5 of the planned 10 regular season events, with stops in Orlando, Columbus, Austin, Phoenix, and Daytona Beach. While the 16 Premier teams have all played different numbers of matches (ranging between 11 and 15 each), we've had more than enough match history to update our power rankings and to talk about how things may play out the rest of the way. Along the way, I'll post my pre-season ranking for each team and I'll talk about why they may have changed. Other useful reference data for this story includes the MLP Standings and Eric Tice's detailed Public MLP data. All stats, records, and standings data in this article are courtesy of these links and is as of 6/15/25). (note: PPM below means Points Per Match. Since there's an unbalanced schedule, the best way to rank teams is by PPM at any given point. Teams get 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for a DreamBreaker win, 1 for a DreamBreaker loss, and 0 for a regulation loss, so the best a team can do is to win every match in regulation for a perfect 3.00 PPM pace). I had them No. 1 after the draft and they remain No. 1 now. If anything, I think they're actually better than I thought they'd be. They've played 14 and won 14, 12 of them in regulation. The only two teams to even stretch Dallas to the DreamBreaker were an Texas (Dallas won 22-20) and New Jersey (21-11), both at the power-packed Austin event. Why is Dallas even better than expected? Jorja Johnson. She's won 26 of 28 games this year to lead the league, and sits at 73% points won, also leading the league. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the No. 2 ranked player by points won this season so far is also on Dallas, that being Hurricane Tyra Black. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Can Dallas finish the year undefeated? No, I think they'll drop one to either St Louis or New Jersey along the way on an off-day for someone. But they're well on their way to the regular season title. The Shock, like the Flash, returned their 2024 team intact and is the current favorite to join Dallas in the eventual MLP championship match. They suffered a shock loss in Daytona Beach to a spirited LA Mad Drops team, the only blemish to their record. They took out New Jersey in the season's first event in a rather 'spirited' match to put themselves firmly ahead of the 5's at the moment. We still have not seen Dallas and St. Louis play this season. New Jersey has shown some chinks in the armor this year, taking losses to the two teams above them, but then taking a shock loss to mid-table Utah. They've had some ups and downs: New Jersey gave Jorja Johnson her sole Mixed Doubles loss for the season in their Austin matchup, but still ended up losing the DreamBreaker. Anna Leigh Waters went 44-3 in games last season; she's already lost more games this year and we're only halfway through the season. She's still a glittering 13-2 in Mixed and 12-3 in Gender doubles so far, but the step-down from Humberg to Dizon is telling for the 2025 iteration of the 5's. Navratil and Dizon have a losing record in Mixed right now, which puts added pressure on the rest of the team to compete. And they're not unbeatable in DreamBreakers, as both Dallas and Utah have proven. They're still the 3rd team of the big-3 but I don't see them getting past St. Louis this year. The Mad Drops are the team everyone got wrong for 2025. I thought they were bad enough constructed as to outright miss the playoffs. Then, they suffered from personnel absences in their first two events and had to scramble along just to compete. Three of their four losses came when either Hunter Johnson or Quang Duong was missing, and one could make a credible argument they would have won at least two of them. Finally at full strength in Daytona Beach, they destroyed the competition, becoming the first team to top St. Louis this year and finishing the event 5-0. Jade and Catherine have been unstoppable, going 12-2 in Gender Doubles. They're a nightmare to play in a DreamBreaker: Duong has won 70% of his DreamBreaker points. This team could make some noise in the playoffs even if they can't supplant all three teams above them in the standings by year's end. Brooklyn actually sits ahead of LA in the standings right now, but has played just 11 matches. They've beaten who they should have, and lost to who they should have. They took both St. Louis and New Jersey to DreamBreaker, but suffer from a roster makeup that's ill-suited for singles play (3 of their 4 starters do not play singles, ever) . They're being led by their two females (Rohrabacher and Jackie Kawamoto) dominating in Gender doubles: they're 9-2 so far this season. Newman has been a monster in mixed, but a liability in DreamBreakers (he's won just 25% of his DB points, as has Rachel). They need to finish off teams before they have to play singles to have a chance. Columbus has disappointed this season, from where I thought they'd be before they started to play the games. Part of that was out of their hands: they played their entire host event without CJ Klinger. Now, that being said three of their four losses are to Dallas, NJ, and STL, so I'm not sure how much better they could have done. I can see them rebounding in the coming events, but there's a bit of a gap between them and the teams in 4th/5th place. Texas started the season on fire, with a win over Brooklyn and then becoming the team that came closest to topping Dallas (they lost 3-2, 22-20 in the DreamBreaker in Austin). But they've drifted since then. They took a bad loss to Carolina at Daytona, then lost a 3-2 shootout against LA that was a statement match so far this season. Their off-season acquisition Eric Oncins has been their best player, which is to say that their three established stars (Alshon, Pisnik, and Tuionetoa) have not played up to lofty standards. They sit 6th in the standings but may be hard pressed to push any further. Orlando is a case-study in team building. They have, individually, two of the best male doubles players out there in Staksrud & Frazier, yet they're 'just' 11-4 together this season. Neither guy is particularly gelling with their mixed partners either (Schneemann & Parker), which has left them mid-table. Their sterling record 10-5 flatters them a bit: it includes an early win over Utah before they gelled, a win over an under-manned LA in the first event, and a 4-0 blowout of undermanned Columbus. Staksrud-led Orlando finished well out of the Playoffs last season, even while he was taking over the No. 1 ranking spot in both Singles and Doubles. Perhaps this is just not a good format for Fed? For the most part, the teams we thought were good have been good, and the teams we thought were going to be bad have been bad, and all the middle-ground teams have fallen in line. That's why, up until Daytona Beach, the top 8 teams were completely undefeated against the bottom 8 teams. Utah has done the most to break this mold, with three shocking wins in the last two events to launch themselves into playoff position. In Phoenix they beat fellow edge-of-the-playoff teams like Atlanta and Phoenix to start this run, then in Daytona a shocking win over New Jersey (perhaps one of the biggest upsets in MLP history) has put them well into playoff contention. How have they done this? Primarily by winning ugly: their best player by points won percentage is Garnett at just a hair over 50%; the rest are in the 40%. Their No. 2 female Genie Erokhina is just 8-22 in games this season, making it tough on Garnett & Jones to get the wins they need to move forward. Miami has clearly been the best of the promoted teams, with several wins over Premier teams (NY, Utah, Phoenix) while holding serve against their fellow promoted teams (just one loss against 2024 challenger teams, to Atlanta in a DreamBreaker). They knew what they wanted early, re-acquiring Noe Khlif to re-pair him with Millie Rane. Their No. 2 Female Mya Bui has struggled though, going just 10-20 overall and 4-11 in Mixed, with her veteran partner Devilliers unable to stem the tide. Their goal is to remain in 10th place and make the playoffs,. Chicago's made from scratch draft day team has not performed as I thought they would, going just 4-10 with a few bad losses to sit right outside of playoff contention. Their big acquisition of James Ignatowich hasn't paid off: he's just 10-18 in games overall, just 4-10 with his buddy Freeman in gender doubles. The team tried to mix things up, recently moving Vivienne David for Vivian Glozman. On the bright side, many of their losses to rivals were in the DreamBreaker, meaning they're not getting blown out when they shouldn't, but they'll look back on losses to SoCal and Phoenix in particular as missed opportunities. Atlanta has been a bit Jekyll and Hyde so far this season, with a couple of decent wins (Carolina and Miami) and a couple of bad losses (Phoenix and Utah, though that doesn't look so bad now), but mostly has underlined the difference between Premier-quality players and Challenger level players. Their two 'No. 2' players DiMuzio and Fought are near the bottom of the player rankings and are a miserable 1-11 and 1-14 respectively in Mixed matches this year. The team swapped Glozman for David but have not yet tested their new-look lineup. They spent handsomely on DiMuzio in the draft at the expense of other, more veteran talent, and it has not yet paid off. They're a long-shot to get into playoff position. Much proverbial ink has been spilled on this team so far this year. It's kind of amazing that a team with the best player in the world, and a squad whose Men's doubles team won 35 gold medals together, is just 2-12 for the season. Ben and Collin are just 5-5 as a team; they should be closer to 9-1 frankly. Meanwhile, the mixed performance has been awful, and the energy level/effort level from the Johns brothers has been overtly awful. They've shown spurts of energy here and there, but the clear disgust they have for their ladies mixed partners shows out again and again. The league certainly has a problem here, when one of their marquee stars shows this little competitive fire for all the world to see; for example, how are they selling this to potential betting partners? I don't suspect we'll see much change between now and August and I'd be surprised if this team wins more than a handful more matches. Phoenix is a mess of their own doing. They managed to turn a decent 2024 team into a god-awful 2025 team. Lest we forget, they finished last year with Daescu, Frazier, Schneemann, and Christian. They managed to turn their best player (Daescu) into absolutely nothing; trading him straight up for Devilliers and then summarily waiving Jay. They spent $100k to acquire Jack Sock, who has more than demonstrated he's unable to carry a doubles team. Sock so far in 2025 is 7-21 overall, just 2-12 in Mixed, and even their three wins on the year were by the skin of their teeth (all three of their wins were in DreamBreakers). They purposely acquired Bouchard (giving away Dizon in the process), who is now 4-22 for the season, winning just 33% of her points and who is dead last amongst non-bench/non-subs in the league. I can't believe I thought they had a chance to compete before the season started (though to be fair that was pre Bouchard trade when I ranked them 8th). We knew NY was going to be bad, and they've lived up to their advance billing. At least they're trying, giving a ton of reps to their bench players in an attempt to compete. They've also struggled with injury, and have given onsite super sub AJ Koller 12 games out of their schedule. They've somehow got 3 wins; one over the all-sub Carolina team in the Columbus event and the other two against fellow bottom-dwellers NY and SoCal. A reminder: this (like with Phoenix) is self-inflicted; they had a playoff team last year (Sock, Klinger, Kawamoto, Jansen), most of whom they either traded away in exchange for cash before dropping their entire roster to remake out of the 2025 draft. Not a great look for a team owned by one of the MLP board members, especially when they didn't reinvest their gained cash. SoCal's plan for the year was to get the queen of MLP (Irina Tereschenko) back into action and hope for some luck. It hasn't happened: Tereschenko has struggled with injury and availability, and her sub Jalina Ingram has gone just 2-9 in her place. They've found gold in bench payer Blaine Hovenier, who's carried his mixed partner to a 7-7 record so far and has brought a ton of energy to the squad in a format where that stuff really matters. However, they have a serious roster problem. Judit Castillo and Ryan Fu are winless in mixed (0-14) and are a combined 7-48 for the season. I suspect SoCal may be looking to replace one or both to just try something new. As for the team, I honestly thought they had a chance to go 0-25 this season, but if they get even 2-3 more wins I think it'll be a surprise. There are several clear 'tiers' of teams so far, and some natural gaps have broken out in the PPM standings. Here they are: Title Contenders: Dallas, St. Louis Finals contender: New Jersey Wouldn't want to face them in the playoff quarters: Brooklyn, LA Mad Drops Lock for the Playoffs, not much else: Texas, Orlando, Columbus Stuck in-between good and bad: Utah Fighting it out for the last Playoff spot: Miami, Chicago, Atlanta Still trying to figure out what their GM was thinking: NY, Phoenix Trying not to finish last: Carolina, SoCal The Challenger teams have played just one event, and at that event the six teams played a pure round robin, so generating power rankings that differ from the current standings wouldn't really add much value. Las Vegas went undefeated and sits top of the table and probably could regularly beat at least three of the Premier teams as constructed. We'll know more after their next event. What do I expect from the 2nd half of the season? I think my big three predictions are: 1. Dallas does not go undefeated but finishes in 1st place. 2. Utah continues to improve and continues to get upsets. 3. Chicago gels and grabs the final playoff spot Next up for MLP? This week is the last remaining Waiver period for the league, so we plan on some moves being announced later this week. We'll have a recap of waiver picks, trades, and other transactions with analysis. San Clemente, Event No. 6 on the slate, follows next weekend after this weekend's PPA event at the same venue.
