One of the most entertaining parts of Major League Pickleball is the Dreambreaker.
In a Dreambreaker, one team puts out a lineup of four players, and the other team responds with their own. The first two players play four points of singles, using rally scoring. After those four rallies, the next two players take the court, and the pattern continues.
There’s a significant level of strategy in Dreambreakers. A common approach is to order the lineup by the best man, second-best man, best woman, and second-best woman. However, teams sometimes adjust this. For example, they may pit a strong woman against a weaker man or put their best Dreambreaker player in the second position.
Players who excel in traditional singles sometimes shine in Dreambreakers, while others struggle to make the transition.
Here’s how the teams stack up in Dreambreakers.
Premier Level
Challenger Level
Individual Player Data in Dreambreakers
Over 2,600 Dreambreaker points have been played this year, and I’ve charted them all.
Of the 122 players who have competed in Major League Pickleball this year, 120 have played at least one Dreambreaker point.
We will focus on the 84 players with 25 or more points. A typical Dreambreaker match has players participating in 8 to 12 points, so setting a threshold of 25 points ensures that these players have competed in at least two Dreambreakers.
Premier Level
39 Premier players have played 25 points or more.
Top five women in Dreambreakers at the Premier Level:
Analysis
No surprise here, but Anna Leigh is the top woman in Dreambreakers this year, winning 73.81% of her points. She’s a huge part of why the 5s are #1 overall and undefeated in Dreambreakers.
Rachel Rohrabacher is an outstanding singles player. If she played singles on the PPA Tour, I’d bet she’d be a top-10 talent. She usually plays the top female spot for the D.C. Pickleball Team, going up against the other team's top player, so her winning more than two-thirds of her Dreambreaker points is incredibly impressive.
Jackie Kawamoto and Kate Fahey often play in the fourth spot, facing the opposing team's weakest Dreambreaker player. This positioning contributes to their strong win rates, both above 60%.
Catherine Parenteau is great in singles, but LA hasn’t competed much in the last couple of months. It will be interesting to see how her Dreambreaker performance changes in the final two MLP events.
Bottom five women in Dreambreakers at the Premier Level
Analysis
The most surprising player in this group is Brooke Buckner. Despite being a top-five singles player on the PPA Tour, Buckner has only won 30% of her Dreambreaker points while playing for the Columbus Sliders and Carolina Pickleball Club.
The other four women in this group don’t normally play singles. Callie and Etta have both played the first woman spot, often facing the other team’s best player, which likely contributes to their lower win percentages. If they played in the last Dreambreaker spot, I believe their stats would improve.
Top five men in Dreambreakers at the Premier Level:
Analysis
Connor Garnett is the best Dreambreaker player among men, and it’s not even close. He started the season 5-7 with Columbus but has thrived with the Utah Black Diamonds, winning 74% of his points.
Hunter Johnson is notable because he was drafted late, yet he’s a formidable singles player. Playing the first slot, he often faces the opposing team’s best player, winning nearly 63% of the time.
Pablo Tellez performed well with Texas, winning nearly 60% of his points in the second spot. However, since joining Brooklyn Aces (Challenger Level) and moving to the second spot, his win rate has dropped to 45%.
Augie Ge and CJ Klinger are both left-handed players in the second slot, and they’ve capitalized on playing against weaker opponents, winning over 55% of their Dreambreaker points.
Bottom five men in Dreambreakers in Premier Level
Analysis
Tyler Loong has struggled in Dreambreakers this year, winning only 36% of his points—below his usual level of play.
Jack Sock has played the most Dreambreaker points in MLP, but he’s also lost the most. As the top singles player for his team, he faces the other team's best player and hasn’t performed well in his first MLP season. It’s surprising, given that his teammates CJ and Jackie rank in the top five in their categories, while Lea Jansen is at 50%.
JW Johnson, a top-15 singles player on the PPA Tour, has struggled in Dreambreakers, winning only 40% of his points despite facing tough competition.
Challenger Level
45 Challenger players have played 25 points or more.
Top five women in Dreambreakers at the Challenger Level
Analysis
The top two women in Dreambreakers, Zoey Wang and Judit Castillo, both play for the Las Vegas Night Owls. They have a combined +27 point differential, with Castillo even competing against men and maintaining her great record.
Tammy's inclusion is surprising. On his podcast, Travis Rettenmaier mentioned that one reason he picked up Christa Gecheva was because of Dreambreakers, but Tammy has performed better than Gecheva in this format.
Bottom five women in Dreambreakers at the Challenger Level
Analysis
Similar to Loong, Braverman just hasn’t played well in Dreambreakers this year. She is much better at singles than her 26% point win percentage. She plays against the other teams’ top female, and I expect this number to go up by the end of the year.
Both former Bouncers women weren’t very good at Dreambreakers. A -35 point differential for those two is a huge part of why the Bouncers are only 2-6 in Dreambreakers, despite having Jaume Martinez Vich.
I hinted at it earlier in this article, but Gecheva was picked up two events ago and is -12 in point differential thus far.
Top five men in Dreambreakers at the Challenger Level
Analysis
Scarpa won 65% of his Dreambreaker points before being inexplicably dropped from the Night Owls. Despite his strong performance, his time in MLP was cut short in 2024.
Kawka’s story is very similar to Scarpa’s. Bay Area was in first place, and he played the second guy spot very well. Everything was going well. Then they dropped him for DJ Young, who never played well for the Bay Area Breakers and has since been dropped. I am surprised both Kawka and Scarpa aren’t playing in MLP right now.
Donald Young was only picked up two events ago, but he has played a ton of Dreambreaker points and has proven he is one of the best men in Challenger Level at these moments.
Purple Jesus is ultra-athletic and has every shot in the world in his pocket. He played a big role in SoCal's winning four out of seven Dreambreakers.
Bottom five men in Challenger Level
Analysis
Roscoe played for Miami way back in the first and second events and just didn’t hold up in singles then. I think he is much better now and will be put to the test at the last event for the Sliders at Premier Level in Las Vegas next week.
Lange has the lowest win percentage in Dreambreakers for SoCal. However, this is VERY deceptive. I am glad I keep event-by-event stats. In MLP Atlanta (first event) he was 7-20, for a 26% win percentage.
Since then?
He is 19-17 and very obviously has been working on his singles game for Dreambreakers. With Max, Yana, and Irina on the team, he doesn’t need to have the best Dreambreaker percentage, but if he can continue winning at a 50% rate or more, SoCal looks very hard to beat in Dreambreakers.
Rafa Hewett is easily one of the most entertaining players in MLP - Premier or Challenger included. However, he has massively underperformed his potential and draft spot this year.
At -10 Dreambreaker points, I would have expected Rafa to be close to the top in Challenger Level, but he finds himself in the bottom five instead.
