Breaking down the waiver wire rules

Bear with us, the waiver period for 2025 looks a little different from years past, and it comes with a new wrinkle, added within the last few days.

Per the 2025 MLP Competition Structure, Waiver Period #1 will happen on Monday, May 12th. Teams must identify their top 4 players, leaving the 5th and 6th open for claims. To claim a player off waivers, teams must submit a blind bid of at least $1,000 to league leadership, who will order the waiver priority by bid amount. (Bid money goes directly to the team from which the bench player is claimed.) Bidding teams must drop one of their top 4 players to make a claim.

Here’s how the Waiver #1 schedule breaks down:

• Tue, May 6 - Premier teams declare 5th and 6th players by Noon ET

• Wed, May 7 - MLP to share available player pool with Premier teams by Noon ET

• Thu, May 8 - Premier teams submit waivers bids via Dutch Auction by noon ET

• Fri, May 9 - MLP shares waiver selection order by Noon ET (picks cannot be traded)

• Mon, May 12 - Premier Level Waivers #1, beginning at Noon ET (one round)

The team that has their bench player selected off waivers, will either get the bidding team’s dropped top 4 player, or they can select a non-rostered (but signed UPA) player.

Here’s what’s new

After the waiver period ends, Premier teams may submit trade requests for bench player replacements. These will work like typical trades, with teams wishing to “steal” another team’s bench player making a formal request with league leadership. If two teams request the same bench player, the team with the lowest points per match record to date will win the request.

Standings after MLP Columbus

Listen, MLP Columbus was WILD, but more for off-court happenings than those on court. We’ll get into that in this week’s pod, but for the quick and dirty:

• Ben Johns dropped out after one match (losing MD and phoning it in during mixed), claiming lighting issues, and Collin tagged along behind him. League leadership opted not to address it, but promised an official statement and consequences after the event was over. (Still waiting…)

• Standing in for Ben was on-site alternate Martin Emmrich, who got to play along side his wife, Tammy. They had a lovely Cinderella moment, winning their mixed match 14-12 to take the Hogs to a Dreambreaker over the Chicago Slice

• Standing in for Collin was Columbus local Ross Whitaker, who some reported drove to the facility when he heard the news, and was signed to UPA moments before taking the court.

• More chirpiness (mostly from the Shock) but nothing came to blows. Shock GM Andrew Haines appeared in a “Security” shirt after the previous week’s sideline run-in with Anna Leigh.

• Speaking of the Shock, they swept their opponents and remain undefeated across both MLP events this year. They remain in the #2 spot, however, as they have 8 matches to Orlando Squeeze’s 11.

• Sunday “Night” Pickleball (played at 3:15pm) came with the promised pomp & circumstance, but without the local/host team playing, much of the crowd dissipated. (The Flames beat the Slice in a Dreambreaker)

• The loss of Columbus local CJ Klinger (who didn’t play all weekend due to illness), really took the heart out of the crowd. Maybe that’s not the only reason, but we’d like to think our boy CJ carries that much weight.

As a reminder, this is how standings points are calculated:

• 3 Points: Regulation win (i.e.: 3-1 or 4-0 win; no DreamBreaker needed)

• 2 Points: DreamBreaker win (i.e.: 3-2 win)

• 1 Point: DreamBreaker loss (i.e.: 2-3 loss)

• 0 Points: Regulation loss (i.e.: 1-3 or 0-4 loss; no DreamBreaker needed)

Standings points will determine seeding at the Mid-Season Tournament held once again at the Beer City Open, where teams can win additional standings points (6 points for winning, 4 for second place, 2 for third place). Top 10 teams will advance to the playoffs.

NEXT UP for MLP: MLP Austin, hosted by the Texas Ranchers at the Austin Pickle Ranch.

This will be the first MLP event with Challenger teams, including Jimmy’s California Black Bears!

In case you missed it, catch up on last week’s pod recapping MLP Orlando.

Tune in Wednesday for a brand new episode covering MLP Columbus!